
fJ Wof\DS OF 

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NORTH 
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a E R M A N 



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VIC-TO-RY OR WEST-MIN-STER AB-BEY," 



HISTORY OF ENGLAND 



IN WORDS OF ONE SYLLABLE 



BY 



MRS. HELEN IF. PIERSON 

AUTHOR OF "A HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES IN WORDS OF ONE SYLLABLE.' 




ILLUSTRATED 



OCT 2. 



NEW YORK : 

GEORGE ROUTLEDGE & SONS 

9 Lafayette Place 



IN UNIFOPvM STYLE, 
Words of One Syllable. 



ILLUSTRATED. 



HISTORY OF EiYGLAXB, 
HISTORY OF FRANCE, 
HISTORY OF GERMANY, 
HISTORY OF UNITED STATES. 



GEORGE ROUTLEDGE & SONS, 

g Lafayette Place, New York 






[THE LIBRARY I 
OF CONGRESS] 

WASHINGTON; 



Copyright, 1883, 
Bv Joseph L. Blamire. 



CONTENTS. 



i 



i 



PAGE. 

^ CHAPTER I. 

En-gland in the Old Times, 9 

^ CHAPTER H. 

When the Sax-ons Came, i8 

CHAPTER HI. 
Al-fred the Great, 27 

CHAPTER IV. 
The Six Boy Kings, . . . •. 35 

CHAPTER V. 
Can-ute and the Dan-ish Kings, 44 

CHAPTER VI. 
WiL-LiAM The Con-quer-or, 52 

CHAPTER VII. 
Hen-ry I., -59 

CHAPTER VIII. 
RiCH-ARD I. Li-on Heart, . .69 



8 Contents. 

PAGE 

CHAPTER IX. 
Ed-ward I , .... 82 

CHAPTER X. 
Ed-ward H., . 87 

CHAPTER XI. 

Hard Times, 95 

CHAPTER XII. 

HeN-RY v., of MON-MOUTH, 100 

CHAPTER XIII. 
War of the Ros-es, - .112 

CHAPTER XIV. 
Hen-ry VIII 122 

CHAPTER XV. 
Ma-ry, 131 

CHAPTER XVI. 
E-liz-a-beth, 140 

CHAPTER XVII. 
James I., 156 

CHAPTER XVIII. 
Charles I., 160 

CHAPTER XIX. 
James II., 180 



Contents. 9 

PAGE. 

CHAPTER XX. 

1 86 
Queen Anne and the Geor-ges, 

CHAPTER XXI. 

George HI., ' ' 

CHAPTER XXn. 

. . • 208 
George IV., 

CHAPTER XXIII. 

214 

ViC-TO-RI-A, 



History of England. 



CHAPTER I. 

ENGLAND IN THE OLD TIMES. 

If you will look on the map of the world you will 
find far up at the left of the west half of it two isles 
that lie in the sea. The large isle is known now as 
En-gland and Scot-land ; the small one is Ire-land. 
In the old times these isles lay there as they do 
now, with the wild sea round them. The men who 
had their homes there knew nauo^ht of the rest of 
the world and none knew of them. The storms of 
years beat on the high white cliffs, and the wild beasts 
had their lairs in the woods, and the birds built in 
trees or reeds with no one to fright them. A laree 
part of the land was in woods and swamps. There 
were no roads, no streets, not a bridge or a house to 
be seen. The homes of these wild tribes were mere 
huts with roofs of straw. They hid them in thick 
woods, and made a ditch round them and a low wall 
of mud or the trunks of trees. They ate the flesh 
of their flocks for food, for they did not know how 
to raise corn or wheat. They knew how to weave 



12 History of England. 

the reeds that grew in their swamps, and tney could 
make a coarse kind of cloth, and a rude sort of ware 
out of the clay of the earth. From their rush w^ork 
they made boats, and put the skins of beasts on 
them to make them tight and strong. They had 
swords made from tin and a red ore. But these 
swords were of a queer shape and so soft that they 
could be bent with a hard blow. They had shields 
and spears. These spears they could jerk back by 
a long strip of the skin of some beast when they 
had thrown them at the foe. On the butt end of 
their spears was a thing that made a noise to scare 
the steeds of their foes. A group of their huts 
made a town. Their beds were made of skins of 
wild beasts, spread on dry grass or leaves. Bowls 
of wood held their meat, and they drank out of cups 
of wood or from the rude bowls of earth, such as 
are shown to this day, or from cows' horns. In the 
cold months these men wore the skins of wild 
beasts for warmth. In the warm days they put on 
a coat of paint for clothes, which must have been 
cool and light. They were fond of a fine blue that 
they made from a plant known as woad which grew 
in their woods. When clad in a suit of this none 
could say that their clothes did not fit them. Their 
food was beef and deer, hares and wild birds, and 
all that they could hunt or shoot. They had 



Ens'land in the Old Times. 



<b 



milk to drink, and knew how to make cheese. 
They were brave in war, and all cut up in small 
tribes, each of which had a king. 

Of course they knew how to fight, as all wild 
tribes do. They were fond of the horse and knew 
how to break him in and train him. In their fights 
they taught their steeds to stand still in all the din 
ancl noise. They had a strange sort of war car in 
which they drove to the fights. Each 
of these held one man to drive and 
three to fight. The steeds that drew 
them had been taught so well that they 
would dash on the rough stones or 
through the woods and tread down the 
foe with their hoofs. There were war car. 

sharp blades of swords like scythes that stuck out 
from the wheels of these war cars on all sides. 
These would cut down all in their way. Then the 
steeds would stop while at full speed at a word from 
the one who drove them, and the men would leap 
down and deal out blows like hail with their swords, 
spring back to the car, and the steeds would rush 
off once more. The old Brit-ons had not heard of 
the true God, but they had a faith of their own. 
They felt as all men do, that there must be a God 
some where, and as they found that the oak tree 
was one of the best trees in the wood, they thought 




14 History of England. 

God might be there. So they chose men to be their 
priests and to ask the gods to help them in the 
shade of the oaks. These priests were known as 
Dru-ids. They had long white beards, and had 
fine white robes. 

They made the folks think that they were wnse 
and had strange might. They wore what they 
said was a snake's egg in a gold case round their 
necks, and the folks thought they could work 
charms. They did know some cures for the sick, 
made from plants that grew in the woods, and 
they could make salves for burns or cuts. They 
would not teach the folks how to use these things, 
for they held them in this way. The folks gave 
the Dru-ids part of all they had, of food, or skins 
of beasts, or paint, or tin, for the cures they made. 
There is an odd plant which does not grow on 
the ground but on the branch of a tree. It has 
a small white fruit. When this was found on an 
oak tree and the fruit was ripe, the Dru-ids would 
make a great feast and all the folks would come 
to it. Then the most old of the Dru-id priests, 
all clad in white, with a white band round his head, 
would take a gold knife and go up to the trees 
where this plant grew and cut it down, while the 
rest sang songs. But all their rites were not so 
free from blame as this one, for it is known that 



England in the Old Times. 15 

they would slay men at times, or put men and 
beasts in one cage and burn them. 

These Dru-ids gave laws to the kings, and in fact 
had the real strength and rule. No one could write 
in those days, and the Dru-ids made songs on what 
took place and taught them to the youth of the land. 
Those who made the songs had the name of Bards. 

These Dru-ids built great piles of stones, where 
they held their rites, parts of which are seen at this 
day. The one known as Stone-henge is the most 
huge and strange. The blocks are so large that we 
can not see how they were put there. Men could 
not move them, and in those days they had not the 
means that we have now to lift up such a mass of 
stone. 

At this time, while the Brit-ons were in such a 
wild state, there was a race by the name of Ro- 
mans, who knew a great deal. They were so wise 
and brave that they had made the whole of the 
known world their own. They had a chief by the 
name of Ju-li-us Cae-sar, who heard in Gaul a great 
deal of the land with the white cliffs and of the 
brave tribes who dwelt there. So he thouo^ht he 
would just go and win Brit-on with the rest. He 
set sail with a fleet of ships and a host of men. 
He thought he could make short work of it, but he 
did not find it so light a task. For the Brit-ons 



i6 



History of England. 



w'ere as brave and bold then as now, and they 
fouQ^ht so well that Cae-sar was orlad to make terms 
with them and go home, much more wise than 
when he came. The Ro-mans had found out that 

the Brit-ons were 
strong and well 
made, and that the 
land was fine, and 
that tin and rich ore 
lay in it. They saw 
two shells by the 
sea side in which 
were the round 




;Ro^ white things which 
we call pearls. Of 
course they told 
tales at home of all 
Cj^ they had seen, and 
the folks there 
thought it would 
be a grand thing to 
get that land and 
make slaves of its 
folks and have all 
the tin and gold and pearls, and all the rest of the 
good things to take to Rome. So in the spring 
Ju-li-us Cae-sar made a start once more for Brit-ain. 



IN-VA-SION OF EN-GLAND. 



England in the Old Times. ij 

He brought more men and more ships, but though 
the Brit-ons had such poor clothes and bad arms, 
they fought long and well ere they would give up a 
rood of their land. At last, when the Ro-mans 
had won a part of the land, they had to build strong 
walls to keep it. The Brit-ons chose a chief who 
led them well, and as Na-po-le-on said of them, they 
did not know when they were beat, for they rose 
and fought and fought, and fell with their swords in 
their hands. There was one brave chief of the 
Brit-ons by the name of Car-ac-ta-tus who fought the 
Ro-mans in North Wales. But he lost the day, 
and the foe took him and his wife and all his kin in 
chains to Rome. As they led him through the 
streets of Rome he had the air of a king, and the 
folks there felt their hearts o^row kind at the si^ht. 
So he was freed at last with all his dear ones, and 
we hear no more of him. 

But the Ro-mans won at last, and they made the 
Brit-ons serve them. They made them cut down 
the great trees and plant corn and dig the rich ores 
out of the earth, or fish in the seas to find pearls for 
the orrand Ro-man dames. But though the race 
were ground down for a time they had a chance to 
learn much from the Ro-mans. As they had to 
work for them and help them build, they found out 
that a house of stone or brick was more stronof than 



1 8 History of England. 

their old huts. They found out, too, how to spin 
and weave the wool that grew on their sheep, and 
so they could have clothes to wear, and not coats of 
paint. They saw the corn made into bread and 
learnt to like it, and they found that they could 
raise all sorts of good things from the ground if they 
would go to work and plant seeds and roots. But 
more than all the rest, the Ro-mans built schools 
and had men to teach the young ones how to read 
and write. In time some good men came in the 
Ro-man ships and taught the folk to serve the true 
God, and that they must love Him and make His 
word the law of their lives. The Dru-ids did all 
they could to put down this new faith, but in vain. 
The folk found out that all went on just as well, 
though the Dru-ids might curse them in their wrath. 
So they lost faith in the Dru-ids and in the oaks 
and the plant that creeps on it. More than one 
church was built where the folk learnt to pray to God. 



CHAPTER H. 

WHEN THE SAXONS CAME. 

When the Ro-mans came to Eng-land Lon-don 
was a mere group of huts. The Romans cut down 
the trees and built fine homes to live in, and a place 



Whc7i the Saxo7is Came. 



19 



where men could buy and sell. Then, of course, 
coin came in use. They built, too, a good wall round 
the town of brick and stone, and a high strong place 
by the name of a tow-er, which could be made 
safe to hold what was put in it. In times of war 
they put their wives and maids and young ones in 
this tow-er. 

There were more towns which the Ro-mans made 
fine. Bath was one of them. In Bath there are 
springs that are said to be good for those who are 
ill. So the Ro-mans built fine baths, and more than 
one grand house, where they could live and bathe, 
and drink from the springs. In York they built 
some schools. To this day things are found that 
the Ro-mans left in Brit-on. 
ground to build a house they 
some-times find old coins all 
rust, or bits of the plates 
from which the Ro-mans ate. 
At times a man will turn up 
with his plow a bit of the 
old Ro-man tiles that they had to pave the streets. 
Walls still are found that the Ro-mans made, and 
old spear heads, and mounds where the dead Brit- 
ons were laid to rest. On the bleak moors of 
North-um-ber-land there is a long low wall, half hid 
in moss and weeds. That is the wall of Se-ver-us ; 



When men dig in the 




BRIT-ISH COIN. 



20 History of England. 

and Stone-henge still stands on Sal-is-bu-ry Plain. 
At last the Ro-mans had to go home to take care 
of their own land. As soon as they were gone, 
the Picts and Scots came down on the folk in a 
swarm by land, and the Sax-ons by sea. The 
Brit-ons were in such hard straits that they sent 
word to the Ro-mans to beg them to come back and 
help them. They said : " The wild tribes chase us 
to the sea, and the sea throws us back on them, so 
that we have but the hard choice left us, to die by 
the sword or by the waves." But just at that time 
the foes of Rome were fierce and strong, and they 
could give no help. At last the Brit-ons thought 
the best plan would be to make peace with the 
Sax-ons and get them to help drive out the Picts 
and Scots. The prince who thought of this plan 
was Vor-ti-ge-ra, and he made friends with Hen-gist 
and Hor-sa, two chiefs who led the Sax-ons. Both 
these names, in the old Sax-on tongue, mean horse. 
It was the way of the Sax-ons to give men such 
names as Horse, Wolf, Bear and Hound. So as 
Hen-gist and Hor-sa drove out the Picts and Scots 
the folks had to let them stay and bring their 
friends. Hen-gist had a child, a fair girl by the 
name of Row-e-na, who won the heart of Vor-ti-ge-ra. 
She gave him wine in a cup of gold at one of the 
feasts, and said in such a sweet voice, "Dear king, 



When the Saxons Came. 



21 



thy health," that he was won at once. He made 
her his wife, and she kept him the friend of the 
Sax-ons. We would not know much of those days 
save for the tales and songs of the old bards who 
went from house to house at the feasts. They sang 
of a bold king Arthur, who had some friends by the 
name of Knights, and how well they fought the 




VOR-TI-GE-RA AT THE FEAST. 



Sax-ons, and how they kept part of their land from 
them for years. 

The Sax-ons brought in more and more of their 
friends, and took more and more land from the 
Brit-ons, and went on to crowd them out, till the poor 
folks had to live in Wales and the lands round it. 
The Sax-ons did not know the true God, and for a 



2 2 History of England. 

long time they staid in this new land, and did 
not learn the Christ-ian faith. They were tall 
with fair hair and blue eyes, kind to their friends 
and fierce to their foes. They were known as 
Sax-ons, but their real name was An-gles, and 
the land took that name An-gle-land or En- 
Hand. From them came the En-Q^lish race and 
tongue. The old Brit-ons who had TOne into 
Wales still talk their own tongue. The En-glish 
call it Welsh. 

The Sax-ons who had most of Brit-ain in their 
hands had all sorts of gods. The chief of these 
were Wo-den and Thor. Thor meant thun-der. 
When they heard the great crash of a storm, and 
the fierce light leaped in the sky, they thought that 
Thor had struck a blow. They thought that their 
gods kept the best place in the skies for the brave 
who fell in a fight, and they did not well care for 
acts of love, but all their aim was to fight, They 
(lid all sorts of wrong things, and were not kind to 
the poor. One of their worst acts was to steal the 
young and send them to Rome to be sold as slaves. 
But God brought good out of this great wrong. 
One day when some girls and boys were set out in 
the place in Rome where slaves were bought and 
sold a good priest by the name of Greg-o-ry went by. 
He saw the poor young things, so fair, with their 



When the Saxons Came. 23 

blue eyes and long light hair, and the sight made 
him sad. 

" Who are they?" he said. 

*' An-gles, from the isle of Brit-on." 

''An-gles!" said the good priest, ''say An-gels, 
for they look fit to be the heirs of light." When he 
found that these poor things knew naught of the 
true God his heart was full of grief. He sought to 
find out a way to send men to En-gland to teach 
the faith of the Christ-ian. He was glad when he 
heard that one of the chief En-glish kings had wed 
a prin-cess from Par-is who was .a Chris-tian, and 
that a priest had gone with her to her new home, 
and a church had been built. 

Greg-o-ry then sent a priest by the name of Au-gus- 
tine to the king and queen, and they with a crowd 
of folks met them at a tree in Can-ter-bu-ry, and 
heard him preach of the true God. In time the 
king and his court gave up Wo-den and Thor, and 
on that same ground where they met that day now 
stands the grand church of Can-ter-bu-ry. Se-bert, 
one of the king's near kin, built on a bit of marsh 
near Lon-don a church where now stands West-min- 
ster Ab-bey, and one where St. Paul's stands now. 
When this king was dead Ed-win, king of North- 
um-bri-a, who was so good and had such a firm 
rule that it was said a child mig^ht eo throug^h his 



24 History of England. 

realm with a purse of gold and be safe, thought 
that it would be best for his land if all had the 
Christ-ian faith. He sent out to call in the folk 
from all parts to hear the truth. One of the priests 
! ^ of the old creed 

spoke for the new, 
for he said he had 
found out that the 
old gods were 
frauds. " Look at 
me," he said, '' I 
have sought to 
serve them all my 
life and they have 
done naught for me. 
If they had the 
might they would 
sure have had the 
grace to have made 
me rich, to pay for 
all I have done for 
them." At the end 
of this odd speech 
the priest rode off 
and threw his lance at the place where he had so 
oft plead for the rites of false gods. 




DE-FY-ING THE I-DOLS. 



So in the course of time all 



the En-glish left 




When the Saxons Came. 25 

their false gods and learned the Christ-ian faith. The 
next prince of fame was Eg-bert. He laid claim to 
the throne of Wes-sex. The king of Wes-sex had 
a wife, Queen Ed-buya, who had a way by which 
she dealt out death to those whom 
she did not like. She would mix 
some drug in a cup and give it to 
her foe to drink. Once by chance 
the king drank too, and at his com of eg-bert. 
death the folk rose in great wrath and drove her out 
of the land. When years had flown men said that 
in the 'streets of Rome they had seen one in rags 
who sought to beg her bread. They could see that 
she had once been fair, and some knew that poor 
wretch who had not a place to lay her head had 
once been En-gland's queen. 

So En-gland grew to be a Christ-ian land, but the 
folk were still rude and rough. The men had not 
much love for aught but the hunt or a feast. They 
wore a lono^ dress like the smock of men who now 
drive carts, and wound strips of cloth on their legs 
for warmth. A house in those days was all on the 
ground floor, and had a hole in the roof for the 
smoke to go out. There was no glass in the land 
save some that had been brought from It-a-ly for 
the church in York, and it was thought a great 
prize. When it was time to dine the folk sat on 



26 History of England, 

stools with cross legs, or on a bench of wood. They 
had square bits of wood for plates, and then the 
meat was brought to them on spits. Each one cut 
off a piece with his own knife. They had no forks, 
and they drank out of cows' horns or rude cups. 
Straw was laid on the floor, and from time to time 
fresh straw was put on top of the old. 

I-na was one of the kings in the part of En-gland 
then known as Wes-sex. He had the wish to have 
his folks learn, and old books say that he went from 
house to house to get pence to send to Rome. 
These were to pay for a school there where he could 
send the young men. For at that time all the men 
who knew much of books were in Rome. These 
pence came to be known as " Pe-ter s Pence." So 
some of the young men from En-gland went to Rome 
to school, and they were taught to read and to write 
and to count. They could paint, too, in books, as 
was the mode then, and they knew how to sing and 
play on the harp. When they came home they 
taught the folks what they knew, and were their 
priests. They took care of the poor and were kind 
to the sick. Then the kings gave them gold and 
lands, so that they might keep up the schools and 
all their good works. In this way the church grew 
to own much land. 



Alfred the Great. 27 

CHAPTER III. 

ALFRED THE GREAT. 

New foes rose at this time, who came from the 
North, and were known as North-men, or Danes. 
They were at home on the sea, and were fierce and 
hard. They came in ships and burst down the huts 
of the folks and stole all they could in each place 
where they made out to land. The Sax-ons had by 
this time learned a great deal. They had made good 
laws, so that a man felt as safe in his own house as 
in a fort, for none could do him harm and not pay 
for it in some way. There were men put in each 
part of the land to hold courts and find out the 
truth when a crime was done. If they could not 
prove the crime in a clear way, or how it was done, 
the man was let off free. At times the judge would 
call in twelve men who knew the facts and see what 
they thought. This is not the way we do in our 
day, for now they try to find men who do not know 
the facts, or if they have heard them have not made 
up their minds and have no thoughts on the case. 
When a kino: thouo^ht he would like to chano^e the 
old laws or make new ones, he would call all these 
men whom he had put at the head of things in 



28 History of England. 

his land, and the folks of the towns, and let them 
hear what the new law was like, and if they said that 
it was good and right it was made a law. But if they 
said no, it was not kept as a law. In time the 
folks of a town chose three or four men to go at such 
times to hear what the new law was to be, and they 
told them what to say. Then the mass of them 
could stay at home and mind the plow and the trade 
and the shops. 

When the king and these men met in one place 
to talk of the laws, they gave the place a name which 
meant where wise men meet. It was like what is 
now known as '' Par-lia-ment," where they talk of 
the laws ere they are made. 

As I have told you, the Danes were fierce foes 
at this time, and burned the towns and stole all they 
could find. But a wise and good king, whose name 
was Al-fred, came to the throne in En-gland, and in 
time he freed his land from these bold men. 

King Al-fred, like most men who grow up to be 
of use in the world, was the son of a good dame. 
Though he was a prince, he had not yet learned 
to read when he was twelve years old. There 
were no books in print in those days, for that art 
had not been found out. Men wrote the books, 
and some of them were done in fine style, and 
were rich in brii^ht tints and o-old. The Oueen 



Alfred the Great. 29 

read some Sax-on songs from one of these books one 
day to her boys, and they all said they would like 
to have that book for their own. The Oueen said: 
'T will give to that one of you four who first learns 
to read." Al-fred went at once to seek some one to 




AL-FRED AND HIS MOTH-ER. 



teach him, and in a short time he won the book. 
He kept it all his life and learned the old songs by 
heart. 

In the first year of his reign he fought nine times 
with the Danes. At times he made peace with 
them, and they would swear that they would not 
come back. But they did not care for their oaths, 
and would come back all the same as soon as they 



30 History of England. 

saw a good chance to fight and burn. Once in the 
fourth year of King Al-fred's reign they spread out 
through the whole of En-gland, and were so strong 
that the king's men took flight and left him. He 
had to hide in the hut of a cow-herd who did not 
know his face. 

He staid in this hut some time, and his friends 
went to see him now and then to tell him how 
things went on and to beg him to stay there till 
they got men to fight the Danes. 

The cow-herd's wife thought this strange man 
ought to help her with her work, as he ate her 
bread. So one day she left him to watch some 
cakes which she put to bake on the hearth. The 
king, whose mind was full of the woes of his folk 
and plans to get rid of the Danes, did not think of 
the cakes. So when the dame came back they were 
all burned, and she was in a great rage. "What!" 
she said, "you will be glad to eat them by and by, 
yet you could not watch them." She did not think 
that she spoke to a king. But just then the cow- 
herd came in with some of King Al-fred's friends, 
who told him that there had been a fight and that 
the Danes had fled from that part of the land, so 
that he might now leave the hut and take his place 
as king. 

You may think that the wife of the cow-herd felt 




AL-FRED THE GREAT AND THE LOAVES. 



32 History of England. 

great shame at the harsh words she had said to her 
king. But he had a kind heart and told her if she 
would think no more of her burned cakes, he would 
not keep in his mind her hard words, and he gave 
the poor folks thanks that they had let him stay so 
lono- with them. 

Then King Al-fred went forth to have a great 
fiorht with the Danes to teach them to leave En- 
gland in peace. But first it was thought best to find 
out how strong they were, and as King Al-fred 
knew how to play on the harp well and to sing, he 
put on the dress of a glee man and went to their 
camp. He took his harp and sang his songs in the 
tent of Guth-run, who led the Danes. But all the 
time he sang he kept watch of all that went on. 
He saw their tents, their arms and much more that 
was of use to him. Then he set out at the head of 
the En-glish troops, and put the foe to rout. He 
laid siege to them for two weeks, and hosts were 
slain. But he was good as well as brave, for he did 
not kill them all, as he might have done. He said 
if they would leave the west part of En-gland they 
might have land and make homes in the east. But 
they must be Christ-ians, and keep the laws of the 
land. Guth-run said he would do so, and he kept 
his word, and all his Danes did the same. They 
burned and stole no more, but learned to plow and 



Alfred the Great. 



Z2> 



SOW and reap and lead good lives. And in time 
they took Sax-on girls for wives. 

But all the Danes were not so good as those led 
by Guth-run. There was one bold man who came 
with four score of ships up the Thames, and there 
was a plague in the land, too, and food was scarce. 
But King Al-fred had a stout heart. He thought 
the best way to keep off the foe was to build ships 
as good as theirs, and go and meet them on the sea 
and fight them there. So he built scores of good 
ships, and he was the first King of En-gland who 
had fleets of his own. He was as great in peace as 
he was in war, and he made up his mind that all 
the young folks in his realm should have a chance 
to learn to read and write. So he would talk with 
wise men from far lands and write down what they 
told him, so that his folk could read it. He learned 
strange tongues, so that he might write the books 
out in En-glish which were in 
them. He made good laws, so 
that all might feel safe, and he 
was so hard on thieves that it 
was said in his reign that gold 
chains or strings of gems might 
have been hung in the streets and none would 
touch them. He built schools and sent to It-a-ly 
for books and things that the En-glish did not 




COIN OF AL-FRED. 



34 History of England. 

then know how to make at home. And he sent ships 
to Rus-sia to find if they had things which would 
be of use in his realm. It was the great wish of 
his heart to do right in all things, and to leave the 
folks of his land more good and wise than he found 
them. He had a time in each day for each task, 
and as there were no clocks then he had to make a 
way of his own to tell the time. He had a sort of 
wax torch made and put in packs of the same size. 
These he made out to notch in such a way that as 
they burned down he could tell how the hours went. 
But as a draught would blow them out the king 
had each set in a case made of wood and white 
horn. Do you know the name of a light that is set 
in a case in these days ? 

All this time the good King Al-fred was far 
from well, but he bore his pains like a brave man. 
When death took him his whole land was full of 
grief, and his name has been kept in the hearts of 
the folks of En-gland as one of her best and most 
wise kings. 

As soon as King Al-fred was dead his son 
Ed-ward came to the throne, and he found he had 
a great deal to do, for the Danes felt that now there 
might be a chance to get more of En-gland But 
though Ed-ward was not so great as Al-fred he 
fought well, and the Danes fled and left the land in 



The Six Boy Kings. 35 

peace for a long time. In the end En-gland was 
made one, with one Sax-on king. By this time 
there was a great change in the ways of its folk. 
Their homes were no more huts, but built well, and 
they had chairs and beds, and all sorts of things. 
On the walls of the rich, silk was hung, with fine 
work on it — birds, or leaves, or bright buds — done 
by the wives or girls of the house. Knives and 
spoons had come in use, and the folk ate from plates 
of bone, or brass, or it might be gold. At a feast 
there would be a harp on which all knew how to 
play in those days. They would pass it from guest 
to guest, and each one would sing and play when 
his turn came. 



CHAPTER IV. 



THE SIX BOY KINGS. 



On the death of Ed-ward the son who came next 
was A-thel-stane. He was a brave and wise man. 
He knew that it was TOod for En-eland to have 
ships to keep out the Danes and to bring in all the 
things that they did not know how to make. So 
he made a law that when a man built a ship and 



36 Histoiy of England. 

went to sea three times in it he should have the 
name of a Thane. This name would give him the 
same rank as though he held lands. A-thel-stane 
kept down the Danes and brought his own folks 
in Wales and Corn-wall to a right mind, for they 
were Brit-ons, you know, and did not quite like 
the Saxon rule. 

When A-thel-stane was dead Ed-ward, the first 
of the six boy kings, came to the throne. He had 
a short reign, and one full of strife with the Danes. 
His life came to an end in this way. One night 
when he was at a feast in his hall, he saw with 
his guests a thief by the name of Leof, whom he 
had once sent out of En-gland. He was in a rage 
that the man should dare to come there, and he said : 
*' There is a thief at this board, who for his crimes 
was sent out of the land. He is a wolf, and it is 
right for all to hunt him out. Send him forth at 
once." *T will not go," said Leof. ''No?" said 
the king. " No, by the Lord," said Leof. On that 
the king rose from his seat and made a clutch at 
the long hair of the thief to throw him down. But 
the thief had a knife hid in his cloak and made a 
stab at the king which was the cause of his death at 
once. Then Leof set his back to the wall and 
fought till the walls and floor were red with blood, 
but he was slain at last. 



The Six Boy Kings. 37 

The next boy king was Ed-red, who was weak 
and sick, but had a strong mind. His troops 
fought with the Danes and beat them for the time, 
but his reign did not last long. 

Then came the boy king Ed-wy, who had not 
the real rule of the land, for that was in the hands 
of a bold priest by the name of Dun-stan. This 
man had a wish to make all do as he chose, 
and he sought to rule the land. This did not 
suit the king and his young wife at all times, and 
so there was strife. Once when the young king 
stole out from a feast to join his fair girl wife, 
the priest sent for him and had men drag him 
back by force, and said vile things to his sweet 
young queen. The boy king kept all this in his 
mind, and when he got a chance he brought a 
charge that Dun-stan had kept some of the gold 
of the last king. Dun-stan fled, but his friends 
kept at work for him at home. O-do, a Dane, set 
up young Ed-gar for king. Then he stole the 
poor young queen from her home, had a brand 
burned in her cheeks and sold her for a slave in 
Ireland. But the good folks there felt sad for her, 
and they said : '' We will cure her and send the poor 
young thing back to the boy king." And so they 
did cure her and sent her to join the king. But 
that bad man Dun-stan, with his vile friend O-do, 



^S History of Ejigland. 

laid in wait for her, and as she went on full of 
joy at the thought that she would meet the king- 
once more, they met her and she was hewn with 
swords till she was left all cut and lame to die. 
When Ed-wy, who was known as the " Fair," heard 
of her sad fate it was said that his heart broke, 
and so these two young lives came to an end. 

The boy king, Ed-gar, was known as the Peace- 
ful. He had to make friends with Dun-stan, or 
you may be sure there would not have been peace. 
He let Dun-stan have his own way in all things, so 
this bad priest gave out that Ed-gar was the best of 
kings. Church bells first came in use in his time. 
King Ed-gar, though he was weak and did more 
than one bad act, took good care of his land. He 
went to all parts of it and had the ships kept in 
good trim and new ones built. He sent men to 
hunt the wolves and wild beasts that did so much 
harm. And he made the kings of Scot-land and 
Wales send him scores of wolves' heads each year 
as a sort of tax. By this means Eng-land was freed 
from wild beasts and men could sleep in peace. 

When Ed-gar was dead his son Ed-ward was 
made king, for he was the first born. But King 
Ed-gar had been twice wed, so there was a young 
boy, the son of his last wife. The bad queen 
thought she would kill Ed-ward so that her child 



The Six Boy Kings. 



39 



micrht have the throne. 



I will tell you how she did 
it. Ed-ward was fond of the hunt, and one hot 
day when he came from the chase he rode up to the 
S^ate of the house where the bad Oueen El-fri-da 
dwelt, to ask for a drink of wine. The Queen 
brought it to him, but while he drank she made a 
sign to one of her men to stab him in the back. 




DEATH OF ED-WARD. 



The King let fall the cup and put spurs to his horse 
to ride off, but he soon grew faint with loss of blood 
and fell to the ground. There they found him, his 
fair young face torn with thorns and stones, and his 
long curls full of mire and dirt — dead ! 

The boy Eth-el-red, who had seen the young 



40 History of England. 

king slain, is said to have wept at the sight, so that 
the bad queen beat him with a torch in her rage. 
He was the last of the boy kings and the folks did 
not love him. They could not cease to think of the 
crime that gave him the throne. But Dun-stan had 
no one else to put on the throne so Eth-el-red was 
made king. Dun-stan was old by this time, but 
hard and stern as he had been all his life. He had 
the rule still, as though he were king. The bad 
Queen El-fri-da made her son do as she chose for a 
time, but he grew to have a will of his own at last. 
Then she left the court, and let us hope she saw 
her sins in a true light. We know she built more 
than one church, but we do not think she could 
build out the sight of the fair boy whom she 
had slain, with his bright curls dim with blood and 
his young face torn by the stones. 

In the tenth year of Eth-el-red's reign Dun-stan's 
death came. They made him a saint, but we think 
the king must have been glad to have been rid 
of him. He was a weak king, and had the 
name of the Un-read-y. The Danes found out 
how weak he was, and one of them, by the 
name of Sweyn, a son of the King of Den-mark, 
came with a horde of men each year and took spoils 
from the large towns. Eth-el-red gave these sea- 
kings gold to coax them to go, but you may be sure 



The Six Boy Kings. 41 

they came back for more. Each time he gave them 
more and more, till he had to put a great tax on his 
poor folks. Then, as they still came for more gold, 
he thought it would be a good plan for him to take 
a wife from some strong race who would lend him 
men to fight for him. So he was wed with a fair 
girl from Nor-man-dy. 

In this reign was done a deed such as fills all 
who have to speak or write of it with shame. The 
king sent out word to all parts of his realm that at 
a sign the folk should rise up and kill all the Danes, 
men and their wives, the girls and the boys, the 
babes at the breast — they must spare none. Of 
course we know there were fierce, bad Danes who 
had done great crimes, but there were good ones 
too, who were Christ-ians, and led lives of peace, 
and had wed En-glish wives. They were all slain. 
They did not spare Gur-dil-da, who was the child 
of a Dan-ish king, and had wed an En-glish lord. 
Her lord was slain with her child in her sight, and 
then they made an end of her too. When these 
deeds of blood came to the ear of the sea king he 
swore a great oath that he would make En-gland 
pay for such crimes. He got a host of men and a 
fleet such as had not been seen. In all his troops 
there was not one slave or old man. Each man 
was free and in the prime of life, and each swore 



42 History of England. 

to do his best to wipe out In blood the great wrong 
that had been done them. That fleet must have 
been a grand sight. Each ship had its own flag, 
with a beast or bird on it, and shields on the side 
that shone in the sun. The ship that bore the flag 
of the king had a great snake on it with coils cut 
in the wood, and the king said he would trust his 
gods no more if that snake did not strike its fangs 
into En-gland's heart. 

And so it did. The hosts of men went on shore 
from the great fleet and took up their march 
through the land. At each town they made the 
Sax-ons give them a feast, and when they ate and 
drank their fill they rose on their hosts and slew 
them. For six years this went on. They burned 
crops and barns and mills. They slew the men at 
work in the fields, so that no seed could be sown. 
They left heaps of burned stuff where they had 
found rich towns. There was one brave man who 
held out when the Danes laid siege to his town. 
This was the Arch-bi-shop of Can-ter-bury. When 
one of the men let in the foe through the gates, he 
said in his chains: ''I will not buy my life with 
gold wrung from the poor — do with me as you will ! " 

The Danes had him brought to the feast hall 
and said to him : " Now, bi-shop, we must have 
gold." 



The Six Boy Kings. 43 

He knew that his time was come, but he did not 
flinch. 

'' I have no gold," he said. 

''You must get it!" 

'' I have told you I will not." 

The crowd drew near with oaths and blows, but 
he stood firm. They struck him with the great ox 
bones from which they had torn the meat at their 
feast, till at last one smote him dead with his ax. 

Eth-el-red was not as brave as this good priest. 
He paid more gold, a great sum, for the Danes to 
go, but they came back the next year. The folks 
of En-gland had by this time lost all faith in their 
king, and all hope, so when Sweyn came once more 
they were glad to see him. When the king fled 
they made Sweyn king. 

Yet when Sweyn's death came in a month from 
the time he had been made king, they sent word to 
Eth-el-red that they would have his son Ed-mund 
for their king. But the Danes chose a king too, 
and his name was Can-ute, so there was war once 
more. The Sax-ons said they would not have 
Can-ute to rule them. 

The war did not end for three years, and then 
the Un-ready came to his death. His son Ed- 
mund did not live but two months, and then Can-ute 
was sole King of En-gland. 



44 History of England. 



CHAPTER V. 

CANUTE AND THE DANISH KINGS. 

Ca-nute was a wise man and did some good acts 
in his reign, but he did not spare his foes. He 
felt a fear of all who were kin to the late king and 
had most of them slain. *'He who shall bring me 
the head of one of my foes shall be dear to me as 
my own blood," he said, and you may be sure there 
were those who were swift to do his will. He sent 
the two boys, the sons of Ed-mond, out of the land 
to Swe-den. The King of Swe-den was a kind 
man, and he brought them up with love and care. 

Ca-nute wed the wife of the dead king, the fair 
Nor-man girl, who did not seem to mourn for one 
she had lost. As Ca-nute grew old he grew more 
kind and did not shed blood as at first. He went 
to Rome in a pil-grim's dress to pray for his sins. 
He brought back some of the good laws of King 
Al-fred's time, and built once more some of the 
schools w^hich had been burnt in the war, and sent 
some young men to Rome to learn in the schools 
there. 

A tale is told of King Ca-nute that as he took his 



Canute and the Danish Kings. 45 

walk on the sea shore one day the lords of the court 
sought to please him by praise. They told him 
how great he was, and wise, and good, that the 
winds and the waves must do as he said. Ca-nute 
heard all this for some time, then he said : ''Bring 
me a chair, I want to rest." He sat down on the 
chair just where the tide would come in, and as the 
waves crept on him more and more, he said to the 
sea : '* I bid you not to let your waves wet my 
feet." Of course the waves went on and rose so 
high that the king was wet with them. Then he 
stood up and said : ''Learn from what you see now 
that there is no one great but God. He who made 
the sea and holds it in His hand can tell it where 
or when to stop." 

Ca-nute left three sons, Sweyn, Har-old, and 
Har-di-canute. The last was the child of his Nor- 
man wife. He had been King of Den-mark and 
Nor-way as well as Eng-land, and he left Eng-land 
to Har-old. But the Sax-ons said they would have 
Har-di-ca-nute for their king, or one of the sons of 
the Un-read-y, who were in Nor-man-dy. You 
know they were the sons, too, of Em-ma, the Nor- 
man wife of Ca-nute. But she did not seem to care 
for them. She gave all her love to Har-di-ca-nute, 
her last born. So when Prince Ed-ward came with 
some men to claim the crown, he found he had no 



46 History of England. 

friend in her, and was glad to get back with his Hfe. 
Prince Al-fred did not have as good luck, for in the 
dead of night, when he and his men slept, they were 
set on by the king's troops. They were then drawn 
out in a line and slain, save each tenth man, who 
was kept as a slave. Poor Prince Al-fred had his 
clothes torn off and was bound fast to his horse and 
sent out to the Isle of E-ly, where his eyes were 
put out and death came to his help at last. 

Har-old was king for four years. He was fond 
of the hunt, and could run so fast that he was 
known as Har-old Hare-foot. Har-di-ca-nute then 
was king for a short time, and then came Ed-ward, 
who was, as you know, a son of the Un-read-y. 
He is known as the Con-fess-or, a name the monks 
gave him. He was the tool of his friends, and 
let bad men rule him. His home had been in 
Nor-man-dy so long that he was more fond of that 
land than he was of En-o^land. He broug^ht hosts 
of Nor-man friends with him, and they saw what 
a fair land En-gland was, good for corn and wheat, 
and how the woods were full of deer, and there 
was great wealth in the towns, so they thought 
they would try and get this good place for their 
duke when Ed-ward was dead. Their duke came 
to see Ed-ward and to get him to say he would 
leave the crown to him, as he had no son. 



Canute and the Six Danish Kings. 47 

Now there was a young Prince by the name of 
Ed-gar who was next of kin to Ed-ward, so that he 
had no right to say that he would give his throne 
to a Nor-man duke. The En-ghsh did not hke to 
see the Nor-mans get all the best things, and to 
hear the Nor-man tongue on all sides. 

Ed-ward did one good thing in his reign. He 
found the laws in a sad state. Some parts of the 
land kept Danish law and some parts had the 
Sax-on. So he had wise mento meet and read all 
these laws and take the best and put them in one 
book, so that all the folks could read and know 
them and all have the same laws. 

Ed-ward had made the child of Earl God-win 
his wife, but though she was good, and fair, and kind, 
he did not treat her with love. So the earl and his 
sons did all they could to stir up the folks to strife, 
and to make them hate the king and the Nor-mans 
he had brought in. Then the king grew more and 
more harsh with his wife, who had won the heart of 
the folks by her kind ways. He took all her gold 
and gems from her and sent her to a house where 
the nuns dwelt, and left her with but one maid to wait 
on her. There she was kept as if she were in jail. 

He sent Earl God-win and his sons out of En- 
gland and brought Wil-liam, Duke of Nor-man-dy 
to his court. Wil-liam was a brave man, fond of a 



48 History of England, 

fine horse and dogs and arms, so he was glad to 
come, and all the Nor-mans met him with joy. 
But the old Earl God-win, though he was not at 
home, had spies there, and knew how the folks felt. 
He thought the time was now ripe for his own son 
to have a chance. For his son was En-glish and 
had hosts of friends. So he came with a fleet up 
the Thames and crowds met him with cheers. At 
last the Nor-man friends of the king took fright and 
made the best of their way out of En-gland. The 
kinof had to rive back to Earl God-win all his lands. 
The good queen was brought out of her jail and 
sat once more in her chair of state, in her grand 
robes and gems. But the Earl God-win did 
not live long. He fell dead in a fit on the third 
day from the time he had won his cause. His son 
Har-old took his place and his wealth, and fought 
well for the king. 

When Ed-ward the Con-fes-sor was dead the 
Duke of Nor-man-dy set up a claim to the throne 
of En-gland. He knew that Har-old would fight 
for this crown, so he thought it would be a good 
plan for him to give him one of his fair girls for his 
wife, so that he might bind him to his cause. So 
Har-old was wed to A-dele, and then he took an 
oath that he would aid the duke. Then Har-old 
went back to En-gland and was made king at once. 



Camtte and the Six Danish Kings. 49 

He had good cause to make haste. When the 
news came to the Duke of Nor-man-dy he was out 
on a hunt. He let the bow fall from his hands 
and sent for all the great men of the land to talk 
with them. The French said they would aid him, 
and he sent word at once to Har-old that he must 
keep his oath and give up the crown. Then the 
Duke of Nor-man-dy set sail for En-gland with 
ships full of men and made out to land in Sus-sex. 
Har-old made haste to march on them. As he 
drew near he saw the gleam of their spears. He 
saw too that there was one tall man who wore a 
blue robe and rode a fine horse. As his raze was 
on this form he saw the horse make a false step 
and throw the man to the ground. 

" Who is that man?" he said to one of his chiefs. 

''The king of Nor-way," said the man. 

"" He is a tall and grand king," said Har-old, "but 
his end is near." 

Now there was one of his own blood who fought 
on the side of his foes, and he sent word to him 
that if he would draw off his troops he would make 
him Earl of North-um-ber-land, with great wealth. 

''And what will he give to my friend, the King 
of Nor-way?" said the man. 

"Sev-en feet of earth for a grave." 

"No more?" 



50 History of England. 

''Well, as the King of Nor-way is a tall man, 
there may be some more." 

'' Ride back and tell King Har-old to come on to 
the fight." 

King Har-old did give them such a fight that 
most of them were left dead on the field. But as 
he kept the feast of joy at this he heard that the 
Nor-mans were in Hast-ings. He broke up the 
feast and made haste to Lon-don. But it took 
him a week to get a force. He sent spies to 
the Nor-man camp, and Wil-liam led them through 
it all and sent them safe home. The spies said : 
"These Nor-mans have no beards, but are smooth 
in the face, like priests." ''You will find that these 
priests can fight," said Har-old. 

At last the Nor-mans and the En-glish came 
front to front. With the first dawn of day they 
met. The En-glish were on a hill, with woods at 
their backs. In their midst was the flag of their 
king. On it, wrought in gold thread and gems, was 
the form of a knight in arms. At the foot of this 
flag stood King Har-old. Round him, still as the 
dead, stood the English troops, each man with his 
shield on him and his war ax in his hand. 

On the hill near was the force of the Nor-mans, 
with their bows strung. All at once the Nor-man 
war cry, "God help us," burst from their lips. The 




LAND-ING OF WIL-LIAM THE CON-QUER-OR. 



5 2 History of England. 

En-glish gave back their own war cry, "God's 
Rood." The En-ghsh fought well, though the Nor- 
man darts fell on them like rain. They cut down 
the horse-men as they rode up, like groves of young 
trees. At last Duke Wil-liam made a feint, as 
though he would fly. The English gave chase, but 
then the foe sought to close in on them and slew 
them in crowds. The sun rose high and sank, and 
still the fight went on. The clash and din went on 
till night, and the white light of the moon shone 
on heaps of dead. King Har-old was half blind 
from a dart that had struck his eye. Some Nor- 
man knights made a rush for the En-glish flag, 
and the king fell with a death wound. The day 
was lost, and the Nor-mans had won. This was 
known as the fight of Hastings. 



CHAPTER VI. 



WIL-LIAM THE CON-QUER-OR. 

WiL-LiAM had the crown set on his head in West- 
min-ster Ab-bey. He was the first Wil-liam, but 
he is best known as Wil-liam the Con-quer-or. He 
made more than one great change in Eng-land. 



William the Conqueror. 53 

He took from those who had fought with Har-old 
all their lands and wealth and gave them to his own 
Nor-man knights. These men built strong and 
grand homes in all parts, and put high walls round 
their lands, and made what we would now call game 
laws. In the old time a poor man who found a 
wild bird or a deer in his field or in the woods 
could kill it and take it home to eat. But the Nor- 
mans would let no one hunt or have game but their 
own selves and a few Eng-lish lords. If they found 
a poor man who had slain aught to eat they would 
put out his eyes, or cut off his hand, or make him 
pay a fine. 

Wil-liam was so fond of the hunt that he took 
land where he chose and made the poor folks give 
up their homes to be torn down to make a great 
woods where he and his men could hunt. This was 
known as the ''New For-est." He made a law, 
too, that all should have their fires and lights put 
out at eight at night, and he had a bell in the 
church to ring at that hour. This bell was known 
as the cur-few bell. 

For a long time the Eng-lish felt sad and sore, 
and could not bear the new rule. But Wil-liam had 
the might in his hands and the folks could not drive 
him out, so at last they had to make up their minds 
to serve him. So he went on to spoil them as he 



54 



History of England. 




chose and make his Nor-man knights rich ; but the 
more he gave the men the more they sought to have. 
He sent all through his land to find out all the 
towns and a list of the folks who dwelt in them, and 
he had all put down in a book, which was known as 
the "Dooms-day Book." "Dooms-day" means a 
day to judge things, and Wil-liam had this book to 
show him how much land he had and how great a 

force he could 
raise to fight for 
him. 

Wil-liam the 
Con-quer-or 
found it hard to 
please his Nor-mans and to keep the Eng-lish from 
strife, and he had no peace with his own sons. He 
had three of them, one known as Rob-ert Short-legs, 
one Wil-liam Ru-fus, from his red hair, and one 
Hen-ry, who was fond of books and had the name of 
Beau-clerk, or ''fine schol-ar." When Rob-ert grew 
up he thought he would like to have Nor-man-dy 
for his own, but as the king* would not give it he 
grew sour and cross and would give the rest no 
peace. He was a gay youth who spent all he could 
get in feast and dance and song. 

Wil-liam at this time went to Rou-en to meet the 
French king and set right some claim to land. He 



DOOMS-DAY BOOK. 



William the Conqueror. 55 

staid in bed most of the time and took drugs, for 
he had grown to such a huge size that it was 
thought best he should do so. But when he heard 
that the King of France had made some jests on 
this, he swore in a great rage that he should rue his 
jests. So he went with his troops straight in to the 
land he had come to talk of with the French king, 
and burned all the crops and vines and fruit, and 
set fire to the town of Nan-tes. But it was an ill 
day for him, for as he rode on, his horse set his foot 
on a hot coal and threw him in such a way that he 
got a hurt which was the cause of his death. But 
he lay sick for six weeks first, and made his will. 
He gave En-gland to Wil-liam, Nor-man-dy to 
Rob-ert, and a sum of gold to Hen-ry. Then all 
his bad deeds came to his mind, and he sent word 
that they should give gold to the En-glish church and 
let all those that were in the jails for state crimes 
go free. 

As the sun rose the king woke at the sound of 
the bell. *'What bell is that?" he said, in a faint 
voice. 

^^The bell of the Church of St. Ma-ry." 

Then he said that he would pray for St. Ma-ry 
to help his soul, and so he drew his last breath. 

As soon as his breath was gone from him those 
who had been there to serve him went to work 



56 



History of England. 



to steal all they could and get off with it. In this 
strife the corpse of the king fell from the bed and 
lay for hours on the ground. There lay the great 
Con-quer-or, till a good knight came to bear him off 

to a church which 
^- he had built. But 
he could not be laid 
at rest in peace. 
For as he was to 
be let down, clad 
in his robes of 
state into a tomb 
in this church, a 
loud voice in the 
crowd said: '*This 
ground is mine! 
On it stood the 
home of my race. 
This king took the 
house and the 
ground from my 
kin to build this 
church. In the 
great name of God 
I here say that this corpse shall not be put in 
the earth that is my right." So they had to 
buy the ground from the man ere they laid Wil- 




BUR-I-AL OF WIL-LIAM THE CON-QUER-OR. 



William the Conqueror. 57 

liam in the tomb, for they knew his claim 
was just. 

His son, Wil-Ham the Red, took small thought 
of the dead king, but went in hot haste to get the 
crown. He was the worst of the Con-quer-or's 
sons. As soon as he had the throne he sent back 
all the poor folks whom the Con-quer-or had set 
free to jail once more. Rob-ert, who was Duke 
of Nor-man-dy, let Wil-liam rule his land while he 
went on a Cru-sade. The Cru-sades were wars 
made on the Turks to get the 
tomb of our Lord out of their 
hands. Those who went on 
them had a cross cut out of 
cloth sewed on their clothes, so 
they were known as Cru-sa-ders. The word Cru- 
sa-der means one who fio^hts for the Cross. 

So King Wil-liam Ru-fus had the rule of Nor- 
man-dy as well as his own land. In the mean-time 
Hen-ry, who did not feel that he had had his share 
of the wealth, made his home in a place by the 
name of St. Michael's Mount, on the sea shore of 
Nor-man-dy. He and his men would dash out 
and steal what they could when they had a chance. 
So Wil-liam and Rob-ert got troops and went to 
his place to drive him out. They laid siege to it 
so that no food nor drink could go in, and at last 




COIN OF WIL-LIAM II. 



58 History of England. 

they heard that the poor folks were near dead with 
thirst. Wil-ham was glad of it, for then he 
thought they would soon give up. But Rob-ert's 
heart was the best, for he gave Hen-ry leave to get 
all he might need for his troops to drink, and sent 
him some of his own best wine. 

You see what sort of a hard heart the King of 
En-gland had, so you may think there was not 
much erief when the news came that he was dead. 
It came to pass in the same New For-est which 
the Con-quer-or had made from the lands of his 
poor folks. He was out on a hunt with his train. 
They had slept all night at a lodge in the woods, 
and had made good cheer and drunk a great deal 
of wine. Then they went their own ways, and the 
king took with him one of his friends. Sir Wal-ter 
Tyr-rell. That night a poor man, who by chance 
went that way, saw a sad sight. There lay a dead 
man in the road with a dart in his breast and the 
blood still fell from the wound. The man got the 
corpse in-to his cart and found out that it was the 
king. Sir Wal-ter Tyr-rell, who fled to Nor-man- 
dy, swore that the dart had been sped by one not 
seen, and then in fear that the crime should be laid 
on him, he had put spurs to his horse and fled to 
the sea shore. But some men thought that it was 
Sir Wal-ter's dart that had struck on a tree and 



Henry I. 



59 



made a turn to one side and found the heart of the 
king-. But there was no o^rief in the land at the 
news. 

This king did so few good things that we must 
tell you one. He built a fine bridge on the 
Thames. He built, too, West-min-ster Ab-bey. 
Part of the old wall still stands, but the best part 
of the hall was built by Rich-ard H. 



CHAPTER VH. 



HEN-RY I. 



When it was known that Wil-liam Ru-fus was 
dead the En-glish chose Hen-ry, the Fine Schol-ar, 
for their king, for Rob-ert was 
at the war in the Ho-ly Land. 
Hen-ry was brave and fond of 
books, and brought wise men 
round him. He took for his 
wife a kind dame who was known as the "Good 
Oueen Maude." She left two babes, Wil-liam and 
Maude. Wil-liam was a wild youth, fond of wine, 
and he had a hard heart. He was wont to say that 
when he should be King of En-gland he would 




COIN OF ED-WARD I. 



6o Histoiy of England. 

yoke the men and drive them hke beasts ; but the 
day did not come for him to be king. He came to 
his death in this way : He had been in Nor-man- 
dy with King Hen-ry, and when the time came for 
him to start back he chose to go in a ship with 
some gay young friends. They staid so long on 
the shore at their feasts that the kingf was a Ions: 
way on his course ere they set out. Then the 
prince and his friends had drunk so much wine 
that they did not know how to steer the ship, so 
they ran on a rock and all went down in to the 
sea. It is said that Prince Wil-liam did not seek 
to save his life, as he might have done if he would 
have left the ship. He staid to try and save a 
young girl who was near kin to him. It is the one 
good act that we hear of him. But all that gay 
crowd went down save one who was left to tell the 
tale. 

For three days none dare go to the king with the 
sad news. At last they sent a child who fell on 
his knees at the king's feet and told him with a 
burst of tears that the White Ship and all on board 
of her were lost. The kino^ fell to the o^round like a 
dead man, and m all his life from that day he was 
not seen to smile. 

As he had no son now, he set all his love on 
Maude, whom he had wed with the Ger-man em- 



Henry L 6i 

per-or, Hen-ry the Fifth, when she was but eight 
years old. When the em-per-or was dead Hen-ry 
made her wed Geof-frey, the Earl of An-jou. She 
had three sons, and her first-born took the name of 
Hen-ry. The king's plan was that she should be 
Oueen of En-o^land when he was dead, and the 
young Hen-ry the next king. He did all he could to 
make his lords vow that Maude should be queen at 
his death, and some did so, but they did not keep 
their word. The king had been told by wise men 
that he ought not to eat too much ; but one day a 
dish of a kind of fish of which he was fond was set 
on the board, and he ate so much that it was the 
cause of his death. 

Henry Fine Schol-ar was a man who did not 
care for his word and took all means to gain his 
own ends. He had a hard heart, as was seen by 
the way he dealt with Rob-ert of Nor-man-dy, who 
had the best claim to the throne. He said Rob-ert 
had made plots with his foes, and he led troops in- 
to Nor-man-dy and cast Rob-ert in jail for life. 
They let him at times ride out with a guard, and 
one day he broke from his guard and rode off. But 
his horse stuck fast in a swamp, and so they found 
him. When the king heard of it he had the eyes 
of poor Rob-ert burnt out, and then he was left to 
spend long years in a cell and to die there at last. 



62 History of England. 

He left a boy of five years old, and the child would 
have been put to death too if his friends had not 
hid him. So you see Fine Schol-ar was a hard, bad 
man, and there were few to mourn him when he 
was dead. 

When Hen-ry Fine Schol-ar was dead, all his 
plans fell to bits like a heap of sand. Ste-phen, one 
of the grand-sons of the Con-quer-or, laid claim to 
the throne. Hen-ry had not thought of such a 
thing. Ste-phen brought some one to swear that 
the kinof had left him the throne on his death 
bed, and he got the crown set on his head with 
great haste. But there were some who kept their 
oath and took the part of Em-press Maude and her 
son Hen-ry. So once more the poor folk's land had 
a war that did not come to an end for years. You 
know Maude was the grand-child of a Scotch king, 
so the Scots came to her help. Whole towns were 
burned down and the land laid waste. The trees 
were cut down, the sheep and herds were left with 
none to care for them, and there was nought but 
want and woe in all the land. At last the folks 
were worn out, and they said Ste-phen might be 
king in his lifetime, but Henry, the son of Maude, 
should have the next claim to the throne. Ste-phen 
did not live but a year from the time this peace was 
made. Then Hen-ry the Sec-ond came to the 



Henry I. 63 

throne. He was just of age and full of zeal. 
He went to work to set things to rights in his realm. 
The first thing he did was to send all the Nor-man 
and French troops that had been brought into En- 
gland to fight, back to their own homes. He 
thought En-glish men were the best ones to fight 
for En-gland. He built up the towns that had 
been burnt in the wars, and sent men all throuo^h 
the land to right the wrongs of the poor, and the 
folks felt safe to build their homes and to plow 
their fields. He put all the laws in force and 
brought wise men to his court, 
and he was fond of those who 
wrote verse. In Hen-ry's time 
there was strife in Ire-land. The 
folks there were cut up in tribes, com of hen-ry and ste-phf.n. 
and each tribe had a king. Now these kings were 
all the time at war. One of them went to Hen-ry 
to beg that he would help him. Hen-ry had too 
much to do at home. But he gave his lords leave 
to go and help the Irish king if they chose. And 
Der-mot, King of Lein-ster, said that if they won 
the cause, he and the rest of the I-rish kings would 
serve En-gland, and the King of En-gland should 
be lord of Ire-land from that day. 

Then an earl, who got the name of Strong Bow, 
got some troops and went to Ire-land to help 




64 History of England. 

Der-mot. Now the En-glish knew so much more 
of the arts of war in those days than the Irish 
that they beat them, and from that time Ire-land has 
had no king but the En-ghsh one. Scot-land in that 
time had kings of her own. It was not so rich a land as 
En-gland, and the folks were more rude and wild. 

One of their kings, Wil-liam the Lion, when he 
heard Hen-ry was in Nor-man-dy, thought there 
would be a good chance to get some of the good 
things so near him. He took men in to En-gland 
to rob the towns and take off the corn and beasts. 
Then the En-glish men rose up and went in to 
the North and fought him and took him to Lon-don. 
Hen-ry would not set him free till he took oath 
that from that time all the kings of Scot-land should 
do the will of the King of En-gland, and he should 
be the real head of the land. 

King Hen-ry had a friend by the name of 
Thom-as a Beck-et to whom he gave much wealth. 
He had grand homes, and a crowd of men to serve 
him, and when he went in the street it was in 
great pomp and state. Now Heil-ry said, "I will 
give my friend a high place in the Church, then 
he will do all things there to suit me." So he 
made him Arch-bish-op of Can-ter-bury. Now 
Thom-as a Beck-et was proud and had a strong 
will of his own. He was fond of pomp and wealth, 



Henry I. 65 

but he was more fond of his own way. So all 
at once he made a great change in his life. He ate 
coarse food and wore sack-cloth next his skin, and 
would fast and pray all the time. Then he laid 
claim to all the right to say who should give a 
church to a priest. He chose to be, in fact, sole 
Lord of the Church in all En-gland. When one 
did not please him he laid the ban of the Church 
on him. That meant a sort of curse that would 
cling to him, when he rose up or when he sat down, 
when he slept or woke, when he ate or drank. The 
King could do naught, and he was full of wrath. 
This sort of strife went on for years. One day the 
King in a hot rage said in his court: ''Have I no 
one here who will rid me of this man?" There 
were four knights there who heard these words and 
went out. They found the Arch-bish-op in the 
church, and when his men would have shut the 
doors, Beck-etsaid: ''No; that was the house of 
God and not a fort." 

The men trod the dark aisles with a cry, "Where is 
the Arch-bish-op?" " I am here," he said. They told 
him he must fly or go with them. He said that he 
would not move. Then they struck him, but he stood 
firm with his head bent down and gave up his soul 
to God. Then the knights went on with their blows 
till the Arch-bish-op fell on the floor dead. 



66 Histoiy of Ejigland. 

The King had not meant death to the Arch-bish- 
op by his rash words, and he was full of wrath when 
he heard the news. The four knights had to fly, 
and did not dare to be seen in the land. The 
Pope put the ban of the Church on them, and they 
went to Je-ru-sa-lem to kneel at the tomb of our 
Lord and pray for their sin. This dark deed made 
foes for the King in his own land, and it was some 
time ere the Pope would make peace with him. 

King Hen-ry was rich through his wife, Elean-or. 
She had been so bad a wife to the French king that 
he sent her off and gave her all the gold she had 
brought with her to get rid of her. Now, Hen-ry 
when a mere youth had wed this bad wife for her 
gold. 

She had four sons, Hen-ry, Rich-ard, Geof-frey 
and John, and she brought them all up in a bad 
way. She made her first-born, when a boy, think 
that he would make a good king, and that he ought 
to have part of the land. He did not rest till 
Hen-ry let him have the crown put on his head. 
Then the youth thought he would like to have all 
in his hands, and he went to France to get men to 
help him fight the King. 

But the Prince fell ill in a French town, and 
when he found he must die he sent for the King. 
Hen-ry's friends thought this might be a trick, and 




"l AM HERE." 



68 History of England. 

they would not let him go. But he sent a ring to 
his son and told him that he would be friends with 
him. The Prince took the ring with a kiss and tears. 
He knew then what a bad son he had been, and he 
said to the priest that knelt at his side: *'Oh, tie 
a rope round me and draw me out of bed that I 
may lie down in the dust of the floor and mourn for 
my sins." 

The three sons left were as bad as the one who 
was dead, for the Queen led them to do wrong. 
They went to war on the King to take his lands 
from him. The King was worn out with the strife, 
and at last, as he lay on his sick bed, some one 
brought him the list of those who had gone to the 
side of his foes, and the first name on the list was 
John, his last born son, the most dear to his heart! 
The sick king heard it with a cry. "Oh, John, 
child of my heart. You for whom I strove through 
all my grief. Have you, too, left me." Then with 
a deep groan he said: "Now let the world go as it 
will. I care not !" 

And he did not seem to care to live from that 
time. So death soon came to him and he was glad 
to go. Henry the Sec-ond has been known as 
Hen-ry Plant-a-ge-net. It was the mode in those 
days for a man to wear a sort of shield for his face 
when he went into a fight, so that he might not get 



Richard I. Lion Heart. 69 

a wound in his head. This thing was Hke a cage 
and had bars. It was hard to know who a man 
was when he had such a thing on, so it grew to be 
the style for men to wear some sign to show who 
they were. The men of Hen-ry's race wore a spray 
of broom, and that is what Plant-a-o^e-net means. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

RICH-ARD I. LION HEART. 

It is told of Rich-ard that when he saw the dead 
king he was full of grief, and said with tears: *' It 
is I who am the cause of his death." But it was 
too late for him to make up for what he had done. 
Rich-ard was a brave and strong man, but he had a 
hot head and did rash things. On the day that he 
was made king there was a great mob that set on 
the Jews and slew crowds of them. His first 
thought was to go on a Cru-sade, and he went with 
Phil-ip of France and the young girl whom he was 
to wed. 

The men who held the tomb of our Lord in those 
days were known as Sar-a-cens, and they had a 
brave Prince at their head by the name of Sal-a-din. 
He was good and just and held fast to the truth, 



70 History of England. 

and his men fought so well that the Cru-sa-ders had 
a hard time to wm a rood of their land. But they 
made out to get one town on the coast, by the name 
of A-cre, and Duke Le-o-pold of Aus-tri-a set up his 
flae on the walls. Rich-ard would not have this, 
so he tore it down and threw it m the ditch. He 
thought the Duke had no right to lay claim to the 
town in that way. Then Le-o-pold and Phil-ip of 
France made up their minds they would not stay 
with Rich-ard and put up with his proud ways. 
So Phil-ip said it was too hot for him in the Ho-ly 
Land, and made him ill. He went back to France, 
but Rich-ard staid, though he, too, felt the heat and 
grew ill. Then Sal-a-dm sent him fruits and did 
all he could for him. Once he sent him a horse, 
but as soon as Rich-ard got on the back of the 
beast it ran with him straight to the camp of the 
Sar-a-cens. Sal-a-din thought Rich-ard would take 
his gift as a trick to bring him into their hands, so 
he gave him a more mild horse to ride back. Now 
you see the way this Sar-a-cen dealt with his foes 
might put some Christ-ians to the blush. Rich-ard 
fought one hard fight at J op-pa. At last Le-o-pold 
would not help with some work on hand, and said 
he had come to fight, not to work, and the king 
struck him a blow that sent him off in a rage to 
his home. 




"rich-ard tore it down with his own hand. 



72 History of England. 

Rich-ard knew it was the fault of his hot head 
that he was left to fight on with none to help him. 
So when he came to the top of the hill from w^hich 
Je-ru-sa-lem might be seen, he would not look at it. 
''Those who are not fit to win it, are not fit to see 
it," he said. There were none more brave than 
Rich-ard in the fight, and he would turn his hand to 
all sorts of work, though he was a king. 

In the mean-time Prince John, with the King of 
France, had set to work to stir up strife at home, so 
Rich-ard had to make peace with the Sar-a-cens for 
three years and start for En-gland. But on his 
way there were such fierce storms, and he was set 
on by sea-thieves, till at last there was no way for 
him to eo save throuo^h the lands of Duke Le-o- 
pold of Aus-tri-a. He went m the guise of a trades- 
man and took but a small boy with him. But 
he fell ill at an inn, and the boy went down to 
get him aid. Some one saw a glove in the boy's 
belt wrought with silk — the sort of thing worn but 
by rich and great men in those days. The Duke 
of Aus-tri-a heard of it and sent and took Rich-ard 
and shut him up in a strong fort. Rich-ard's wife 
and friends did not know where to seek for him. 
A tale is told that Blon-del, a youth who sang 
songs in his court, went from place and sang so that 
the king might hear him, and that one day he sang 



Richard I. Lion Heart. 73 

a song near the fort at Tri-fels and a voice took up 
the strain, and he knew he had found the king. 
But we know the En-ghsh paid a large sum of gold 
and had him set free. 

At last the king went home, but he found that 
Prince John and the French king had made bad 
work for him in Nor-man-dy. In a fight there a 
dart struck the king. It did not seem bad at first, 
but there was no one there who knew how to treat 
it, and it was soon known that the king must die. 
He sent for the young man who had sped the dart, 
and said to him : 

'' Knave ! what have I done to thee that thou 
didst seek to take my life?" 

''What hast thou done to me?" said the young 
man. ''Thou hast slain all my near kin with thine 
own hands. Let me die now as thou wilt. I care 
not, since thou, too, must die, and through me the 
world is well quit of thee." 

The king gave the young man one long look and 
then said : " Go in peace — I will not hurt thee, 
thou art free." Then he sank back on his couch 
and was dead. His lords would not heed his last 
words, but took the youth and slew him. 

John, who had the name of Lack-Land, as a 
sort of joke, was made king at once, though there 
was a child who was the real heir of the throne. 



74 History of England. 

This child was Ar-thur, the son of Geof-frey. The 
boy was in the charge of the French king, but he 
did not care for him, save to stir up strife for En- 
gland. Poor Ar-thur was a fine boy, but with the 
King of France and John of En-gland he was like 
a lamb in the paws of a wolf. John had a fear 
that the boy might be made king, and he would 
have been glad to have put him out of the way but 
did not quite dare to do so. So he thought he 
would have Ar-thur's eyes put out, and then he 
would not be fit to be a king and he could keep 
him in jail all his life. He told a man who had 
Ar-thur in charge to put his eyes out, but Hu-bert 
paid two bad men to do it. When they came with 
their red hot bars to burn his eyes, the poor child 
wept and knelt and plead with them so sore that 
none of them had the heart to do the work. 

But King John had no such soft heart. Ar-thur 
was in his way, as he thought, and he made up his 
mind that the boy must die. So he took him from 
Hu-bert, who was too kind to suit the king, and put 
him in a sort of jail in Rou-en. There one night 
Ar-thur heard a loud knock at the gate. You may 
be sure his heart beat fast with fear when he saw 
the king and one of his men, a tool who would 
do as he was told. The name of this vile man was 
Ma-luc. He took the boy by the arm and gave 



Richard I. Lion Heai^t. 75 

him a death stab in his heart, then threw his corpse 
in the Seine, while the king stood by to see it done. 

This act was so vile that the lords and chief men 
of the land sent word to the king that if he were 
not more just and wise he must give up his crown, 
for they would not have him to rule them. They 
said John must swear to rule them by the good old 
En-oflish laws which had come down from the times 
ere the Nor-mans came. At first John would not 
hear them, but when he found that he must do so 
he said if they would fix a place he would meet 
them and do the best for En-gland. So they met 
the king at a place by the name of Run-ney-mede, 
near Wind-sor There they gave him a sheet on 
which were put down good laws by which kings 
could be kept from too stern and harsh a rule, and 
the folks might have some rights that none could 
take from them. 

King John did hate to put his seal to this, but 
there was no way for him to get out of it and keep 
the crown, so he had to do it. This was known as 
Mag-na Char-ta, which means that it was a great 
chart of TOod laws for En-g^land. 

But John did not mean to keep it, though he had 
put his seal to it. He had such a greed for gold 
that it was hard for him not to throw folks in jail 
and take all their wealth when he chose. So all 



76 History of England. 

the time his aim was to cheat the lords and the 
poor folks, and he did not keep his word. At last 
the En-glish were at their wits' end and felt that 
they could not bear it, so they sent word to the 
French king that if he would come and free them 
from this brute he might have En-gland. Of course 
Lou-is came as fast as he could. John fled, and 
half=sick with rage and grief he v/ent to spend a 
night with some monks on the way, when some 
fruit and ale made him so ill that death came in a 
few days and rid the land of him, to its great joy. 

Hen-ry the Third was but nine years old when 
he was made king. The next thing was to get rid 
of the French and to win those lords back who had 
fought on his side. A good man by the name of 
Hu-bert de Burgh took the charge of things while 
the king was a child, and soon all the lords came 
back to swear they would serve the young king. 
Lou-is lost a fight at Lin-coln, and when his wife 
sent him more troops Hu=bert de Burgh got ships 
and sank those of the foe and drove them out so 
that they had to go home and leave En-gland in 
peace. 

Hen-ry's reign was a long one and a sad one for 
En-gland. As he grew up he took bad men for 
his friends, and they made him do as they chose. 
He was led to let them take the good Hu-bert de 



Richard I. Lion Heart. jy 

Burgh and put him in jail. But when they sought 
for a smith to put chains on his feet the man said 
he would not forge chains for the feet of the brave 
man who had freed his land from the French. So 
at last the good man got free and went to Flan-ders 
to live. The king and his men spent much gold 




AR-REST OF HU-BERT DE BURGH. 



and put more than one tax on the poor folks to get 
it. The Par-lia-ment, which is the name of the 
band of men who make the laws, made up their 
minds that they would not let the king have more 
funds to waste if they could help it. The king 
was at his wits' end to get gold, and at last took 
the cross as if he meant to go on a Cru-sade. 



78 Hzstoiy of England. 

He thought by this means he would get some funds, 
but he got none. 

At last the Par-lla-ment said that if he would 
swear to keep all the laws in the Great Char-ter 
they would vote him a large sum. Of course 
Hen-ry told them he would do so, and he met all 
the great lords and chiefs of the land. The priests 
stood up in their robes with lights in their hands, 
and as the arch-bish-op read the curse for all 
who should break the laws of the Great Char-ter 
in En-gland, the lights were put out one by one, 
and the king swore to keep the Char-ter, ''As I am 
a man, as I am a Christ-ian, as I am a knight, 
as I am a king." 

It was a lio^ht thinor for this king to make oaths 
or to break them. So as soon as he had the gold 
he went on in the old way. When he had no more 
funds he set to work in his old style to beg for 
them. 

Hen-ry HI. did one good thing for En-gland. 
He built West-min-ster Ab-bey as it now stands. 
When he had gold he gave it in a free way to those 
in need. When a child was born to him he gave its 
weight in coin to the poor. But things were left in 
such a loose way that at times there would be nought 
in the place for the king and queen to eat, till his 
men went and took sheep or fowls from the poor men 



irawSPfM 







THE PRIESTS AND THE LIGHTS. 



So History of England, 

round. The king broke all the laws of Mag-na 
Char-ta as he chose. The Par-lia-ment at last met, 
and this time they came in arms. They told him 
that as they found he would not keep his word, 
they would have one of their own men to watch 
him. The man they chose was Si-mon de Mont- 
fort, and it was his work to see that the king did 
not break the laws or take gold from the folks 
who did not wish to give it. The king w^as in a 
rage, but he had to swear that he would do as 
they chose. But Hen-ry could not rest. He felt 
that he was not a king while he was held by such 
bonds. His son Ed-ward was now grown up, and 
they both got the help of the king of France, who 
thought that an oath made in such a way need not 
be kept. So the king and his friends got troops to 
go with them to fight for what they said were their 
rights, and Si-mon de Mont-fort and the lords met 
him at a place by the name of Lew-es. Si-mon and 
the lords won the day and took the king, and Rich- 
ard and Ed-ward had to give up. Si-mon de Mont- 
fort had the real rule of the land for a time, though 
he let Hen-ry still have the name of a king. He 
kept a watch on him lest he should get out of En- 
gland, and he held Ed-ward in jail. Si-mon was a 
true and kind man, who had the best good of the 
realm at heart, but he had sons who were proud 



Richard I. Lion Heart. 



and hard, and prone to treat all who came in their 

way so ill that the lords could not get on with them. 

One of these lords sent Ed-ward a fine horse, and 

one day when the prince took a ride with his guards 

he said to them: "Try which oi you has the best 

horse." So they went to work and ran a race till 

their steeds were 

quite worn out. 

Then E d - w a r d 

put spurs to his 

fine fresh horse and 

rode off to the 

friends who were 

in wait for him. 

All who were not 

friends to the 

Mont-forts made 

haste to join him, 

so that he had soon 

quite a large force. 

He met Mont-fort 

and his troops with the poor old king in their midst 

at Eves-ham. In the fio^ht the V\x\^ would have 

been thrown down and slain but for his cry, 

''Save me, save me! I am Hen-ry of Win- 

ches-ter." His son heard the call, ran to him and 

bore him off to a safe place. Mont-fort knew 




BUR-I-AL OF HEN-RY III. 



82 History of England. 

from the first that there was no hope for him, but he 
fought on and fell like a brave man on the field of 
the fight. 

Ed-ward won the day and set King Hen-ry on 
his throne once more in peace, but took good care 
that the laws of Mag-na Char-ta should be kept. 
Then he set out on a Cru-sade, and while he was 
gone the King's death came to pass. There have 
been few kinoes who have had such lonof reio^ns as 
Hen-ry of Win-ches-ter. In his time the first Par- 
lia-ment sat. The word is from the French, and 
means a talk. The king has no right to get gold 
from the folks save when the Par-lia-ment grants it. 
The Par-lia-ment has a House of Lords, made up of 
men of high birth, and there are, too, men who are 
sent from the towns and farms to speak the minds 
of the folks who live there. 



CHAPTEPv IX. 



ED-WARD I. 



Ed-ward I. was one of the best and most wise 
of kings. When he heard that Hen-ry was dead 
he came home at once and brought with him his 



Edward I. 83 

sweet and good wife El-ean-or of Castile, who had 
been his nurse when he had a sore wound. He 
had been brought back to health by her care. She 
won the love of the whole land. Ed-ward kept 
all the laws of Mag-na Char-ta, and taught the 
folks what he had seen that was of use in the lands 
where he had been in his youth, how to care for 
their beasts, and to raise the best kind of grass for 
them ; how to plant new things in their fields that 
would be good for food. 

You know that most of the old Brit-ons who had 
fled from the Sax-ons had gone 
to live in Wales, where the foes 
could not get to them, as it is a 
wild land of rocks and hills. 
They had tribes each with a ^°^^ °^ ed-ward i. 
prince of its own. There was one in North Wales 
and one in South Wales, and one in the rest of the 
land. The men on the line near En-gland thought 
they still had a right to all they could take, and 
they would go and burn a house and steal the 
cows and sheep when they chose. King Ed-ward 
sought to make friends with them and to get them 
to keep the peace. But they would not, so he 
had to go to war with them. The two men who 
were at the head of the land were slain in this war, 
and the king won the day. Then he told the Welsh 




84 History of England. 

that if they would meet him at Caer-nar-von Castle 
he would give them a prince who had been born 
in their land and could not speak a word that was 
not Welsh. They all came and the king met 
them, with his new-born babe in his arms. It had 
been born in Caer-nar-von Castle, and of course 
it could not speak a word at all. The Welsh had 
to take him for their prince, and the King had a 
Welsh nurse for him, so that the first word he 
spoke might be Welsh. Since that day the first- 
born son of the King of En-gland is known as 
the Prince of Wales. 

For a long time Wales was in a sad state. The 
En-glish kings did not treat the Welsh as well as 
they did their own folks. The Welsh felt that 
this was not right, and they would now and then 
try to set up a prince of their own. 

Now it came to pass that while Ed-ward was 
king of En-gland death took the Scotch king, and 
he left no sons. There were two young men near 
kin to him, Rob-ert Bruce and John Ba-li-ol. Both 
set up claims to the crown, but as they could not 
both be kings they made up their minds to ask 
King Ed-ward to judge for them. He chose John 
Ba-li-ol for Scot-land's king, but at the same time he 
said he was lord of Scot-land, and that he meant to see 
that the laws were kept there. So if a Scotch-man 



Edward I. 



85 



thought that he had cause to find fault with aught, 
he would go to the King of En-gland with his case. 
This put the folks of Scot-land and John Ba-li-ol in 
a rage, for they thought they ought to have the rule 
of their own land. So the Scots went to war and 
had the worst of it, for they lost, and all the best 
part of their land fell into Ed-ward's hands. The 
king, in fact, had made up his mind to join 
land to En-o^land and rule it all as one land. 



the Scots did not 



th 




le ::::>cots aia not see things in tne 
same light. The men who were sent 
to rule them were most harsh, and did 
not treat them in the right way. 
There was one man, Sir Wil-liam Wal- 
lace, w^ho had lost his home, and wealth 
at the hands of these men, who fled to 

the woods and hills, and drew a ^ 

large throng with him. They fought co^-o^a-tion chair. 
Ed-ward's troops with the hope that they 
might free Scot-land from his yoke, and at 
first they won. The troops of Ed-ward fled, 
and the Scots gave chase. Wal-lace led his 
men into En-gland and burnt homes and laid 
waste all in his course, to make up for what the 
Scots had lost. But he could not stand in the face 
of the large force brought by Ed-ward to fight him, 
and he had to take to the woods once more. Ed- 



86 History of England. 

ward sent out word that he would let all who would 
lay down their arms go free. Most of the band 
gave up, but Wal-lace still hid in the woods till one 
of his own men was so vile as to tell the En-glish 
where he was. They took him and sent him to 
Lon-don, where the king had him put to death. 
But his name still lives m songs and tales to this 
day. This did not end the war, for Rob-ert Bruce 
was now king, and he, too, sought to drive out the 
En-glish troops who had been left to guard all the 
Scotch towns. This made a new war for a long 
time. Ed-ward was in a rage and set out with his 
son and more troops to put down this new strife. 
But first he gave a charge to his son that if he 
should die ere the task was done he would take it 
up and go on with it. The king was weak and ill 
at the time, and he had a fear that the end was near. 
Bruce lost a fight and fled to Ire-land, where he 
lay hid for a long time. Ed-ward spent the time in 
a raid on all that were kin to Bruce. He would 
not spare one of them, young or old, but put all to 
death and took their goods and lands. In the 
spring Bruce came forth to the fray once more, and 
at times he won, at times lost. Ed-ward, who was 
worse in health and near his death, still held his 
course, his face to the foe ; but at last he had to 
yield to a foe more strong — death ! 



Ediuard II. 87 



CHAPTER X. 

ED-WARD II. 

Ed-ward the Sec-ond, the first Prince of Wales, 
was now king. This young man had a friend by 
the name of Pier Gav-es-ton. The old king did not 
like this friend, and had made his son swear an 
oath to him on his death bed that he would give 
him up. But as soon as the king was dead his son 
broke the oath. He sent for his friend, ran into 
his arms, and was so full of joy at the sight of him 
that he did not seem to care for aught else. Now 
this young man. Pier Gav-es-ton, was wild and bad, 
and led the king into all sorts of vice. The king 
gave him great wealth and rank, so that the lords at 
the court grew to hate and fear him. They said the 
kmg should have no more gold till he got rid of 
this bad man. Ed-ward sent Gav-es-ton off till he 
got the funds, then he met him with them and the 
two spent them in feasts and play. In the mean- 
time Bruce went on with his plans to free Scot-land. 

The lords once more took a vow that the king 
must give up his friend and that if Gav-es-ton 
should dare to come to En-gland he w^ould be put 



88 History of England. 

to death. The poor weak king plead-ed for him with 
tears in his eyes. Then he was so mad as to think 
he might bring Gav-es-ton back in spite of them, 
and he did so and gave him more rank and 
wealth. The lords laid siege to a house where the 
friend was, and took him. It had been Gav-es-ton's 
way, when he was at court, to call the lords names 
in jest, and to show that he did not fear them. So 
the next day when he put on his clothes he was 
sent for to come down to the court yard. It was 
full of men in arms. He grew pale when the man 
who led them said: 'T think you know me. I am 
the Black Dog of Ar-denne." Gav-es-ton did know 
him, and the name was one which he had been 
wont to call him in scorn — but now he was to feel 
the Black Dog's teeth. They took him out and 
struck off his head. 

The kino^ was full of o^rief and ra^e when he heard 
of it, and made war on the lords at once. Both 
sides were in arms for half a year. As soon as this 
war was at an end Ed-ward had to go and meet 
Bruce once more. A great fight took place at 
Ban-nock-burn, and the Scots won the day, so 
that Ed-ward was o^lad to eet back home and to 
say that he would leave Scot-land free from that 
time, and their kings should rule them with no help 
from the kings of En-gland. Plague and want of 



Edward II. 



89 



food now came to add woe to the bad days for 
En-gland. But the weak king took a new friend, 
and did not seem to mind it at all. This new friend 
was a brave, fine young man by the name of Hugh 
De-spen-ser. He might have won the love of all 
if he had not been the friend of 
the king, but this made men hate 
him. 

At last the queen said that the 
kine ofave all his wealth to his 




COIN OF ED-WARD II. 



'^ ^5" 



friend, and there would be none left for the prince. 
She had no love for the king, who had not sought 
to win it, but spent all on his friends. So now the 
queen went to France to get men to help her. All 
who did not like De-spen-ser were her friends, and 
she led the young prince to try to take the realm 
from the king. Ed-ward fled to Wales, 
but they took him at last, and put De- 
spen-ser to death. 

Then they made Ed-ward say that 
he was not fit to reign, and that he 
would give up the crown to his son. 
They then threw him in jail and kept 
him there with poor food and in great want and 
scorn, and the guards would mock him and crown 
him with hay. And when they found that he was 
too strong to die of bad food and a damp cell 




SHIP. 



90 History of England. 

they had him slain one night in such a way that his 
cries and shrieks were heard by all who were near 
the house, but none were there who could help the 
poor weak king. 

The Queen Is-a-bel-la had a vile friend by the 
name of Mor-ti-mer, and the two took the rule 
of the land in their own hands. The young King 
Ed-ward III. was a boy of twelve, but as soon as 
he grew to know what vile acts had been clone, he 
had some of the queen's worst friends put to death. 
Mor-ti-mer was hung at Ty-burn. Then the king 
shut up Queen Is-a-bel-la where she could work no 
more harm. 

Eel-ward III. had a good wife by the name of 
Phil-lip-pa. She was fond of En-gland, and did a 
great deal of good there. She brought men who 
knew how to make cloth from her own land, and 
they taught the En-glish their trade. So that now 
En-gland is the chief place in the world for wool 
and cloth. 

Queen Phil-lip-pa had new schools built in Ox- 
ford, and brought to En-gland a wise man by the 
name of Frois-sart, that he might see the land 
and write of it all, in a book which you may read 
to this day. Chau-cer, the first man who wrote 
verse of note, was a friend of the queen. And in 
this reign folks left off the Nor-man French that 



Edward II. ot 

they spoke and learn-ed to speak En-glish in much 
the same way they do now. John Wick-hff, with 
his friends, sought in this reign to write the Bi-ble 
in En-ghsh, so that all might read it. 

Queen Phil-lip-pa brought up her girls and boys 
in the best way, and her first-born son, who was 
known as the Black Prince, from his dress, was 
thought to be one of the most brave youths in 
the world. While war made the kino- leave his 
home, the queen took good care of all. When 
Charles King of France 
was dead he left no sons, 
so King Ed-ward, who 
was near kin to him, set 
up a claim to the throne. 
But there was one Phil-ip 
who w^as quite as near kin, and thought he 
ouoht to be kino^, and the two went to war. The 
poor folks in France and En-gland had a hard time 
Vv^hile these wars went on, though some of the 
great ones won fame by their brave deeds. The 
Par-lia-ment were so Had for the En-Hish to win 
that they gave great sums to keep up the war, 
and the tax all fell on the poor, so that it was 
hard for them to live. 

At the first of this war there was a great sea 
fight near a town by the name of Sluys, on the 




SHOES. 



92 History of England. 

coast of Flan-ders. In the place of guns to fire 
from the ships, they had great stones for the men 
to throw when they were near, and bows to shoot 
when they were far off. There was, too, a great 
fight on land which Ed-ward won, at a place by the 
name of Cre-cy. The French had three times the 
men that the English had at Cre-cy, so King Ed- 
ward knew he must place his men with care or 
they would lose the day. He sent his son on to 
lead in this fight, though he was a mere boy. 
It was three on a hot day when the first move 
was made on the foe, and the fight was kept up 
till dark. Some one had a fear that the young 
prince would be hurt, and sent to beg the king to 
come and help him. "Is he hurt?" said the king. 
''No." "Then," said the king, "he will do well, 
and I choose that he shall win the fame of the day." 
Two kings, who had come to help the French king, 
and a host of men were slain. The En-glish lost 
but few. When the king met his son he took him 
in his arms with a cry of joy and said : " My brave 
son, go on in this way; you have shown that you 
are fit to be a king." 

A year from that time King Ed-ward laid siege 
to Ca-lais, which is on the coast of France. The 
brave folks in it held out for a year, but then they had 
to give up for want of food. The king had a mind 




THE BLACK PRINCE AND KING JOHN. 



94 History of England. 

to deal with them in a most harsh way — in fact he 
was in such a rage that they had held out so long, 
he said he would hang them all. But his chief 
men plead-ed for them. And then he said if six of 
their chief men would come and bring him the keys 
of the gates, with naught on but their shirts and 
ropes round their necks, he would hang them and 
spare the rest. 

When the folks of Ca-lais heard these hard terms 
they said they would all starve and die ere they 
would give up their brave men to such a death. 

But there were six good brave men who said 
they would be glad to die to save the rest of the 
town. So they took the keys and went out with 
bare heads and bare feet and naught on but their 
shirts and the ropes, as King Ed-ward had said. 

When the king saw them he sent for the man to 
cut off their heads ; but the queen was in his tent, 
and she came out and fell on her knees and plead-ed 
for them, and would not get up till the king said he 
would spare their lives. But he kept Ca-lais, so 
the war with France went on. 

The next fight in which King Ed-warcl won fame 
was at Poic-tiers. The Black Prince was there with 
a small force, but he led them in such a way that 
they won the day, though the French had five men 
where he had one. The King of France and his 



Hard Tijnes. 95 

son fell into the hands of the Black Prince, who 
brought them to his tent and made them sup with 
him and gave them the best he had to eat. When 
Prince Ed-ward brought them to Lon-don he let 
King John ride on his own fine white horse, while 
he rode near to wait on him. John was set free 
when peace was made, but his folks could not pay 
the fine, so he went back of his own will into the 
hands of the En-glish, and his death came to pass 
in En-gland. 

The Black Prince, on whom the En-glish had 
set their hopes, did not live to wear the crown. 
There was great grief for him, as he had shown 
that he had a kind heart as well as a wise head, 
and such kings were rare. He left a boy of ten, 
who was made king at once when Ed-ward the 
Third was dead. 



CHAPTER XI. 

HARD TIMES. 

It is hard for a land whose king is a child, and 
so En-gland did not have good times when the son 
of the Black Prince came to the throne. For there 



96 History of England. 

were three sons of the old King Ed-ward who each 
one sought to have the rule in his own hands, and 
they did not care for the good of the young king 
or for their land. The poor were ground down 
and were slaves to the rich. They had to pay a 
tax on this and a tax on that till they had scarce 
food to eat. A new tax by the name of the poll 
tax was made in King Rich-ard's reign, and the 
folks rose in a rage at it. One of them by the 
name of Wat Ty-ler struck down a rude man who 
came to his house to get this poll tax, and the 
blow was the cause of his death. The folks in the 
town came with sticks, and scythes, and flails, and 
took the part of Wat Ty-ler. He told them to 
come with him and march up to Lon-don and tell 
the king of their wrongs. As they went, more and 
more folks came to join them, and It was a wild 
throng by the time they got to Lon-don. They lay 
in the grass all night round the Tower, and when 
day came they said they must speak to the king. 
He came in his barge to see them, but his friends, 
who had seen the strange horde, had fear for his 
life and took him back. The next day the king 
rode on his horse in the midst of the mob to try 
and find out the truth. While Wat Ty-ler spoke 
to the king he laid his hand on him, and some 
one thought that he meant to stab him, so the Lord 



Hard Times. 



97 



May-or rode up to him and dealt the poor man such 
a blow that he fell from his horse, and some one 
thrust him through with a sword. The mob did 
not seem to know what to do, when the king rode 
forth and said: ''Good folks, have you lost the man 
who led you? That man was false. I, your king, 
will lead you !" Then he rode at their head out 
into the fields, and they were told to state their 
wrongs, and he said he would do what he could for 
them; so they went home. Rich-ard did seem to 
wish to give up some of the laws that were so hard 
on the poor, but his 
lords would not let 
him. He was a mere 
youth, and he was 
fond of feasts and 
fine clothes, and glad 
to let all things go and the world wag as it might if 
he had a good time. He said his fun did not cost 
as much as King Ed-ward's wars, so he made peace 
with France, that he might have funds for his fine 
clothes and his feasts and gifts for his friends. Thus 
En-gland lost its fam'e, while the king spent the 
gold of the land for gems, and rings, and fur robes 
in which knights were dressed to ride and tilt in 
sham fights. 

The Duke of Glou-ces-ter was glad to find 




^ a 



HEAD-DRESS-ES. 



98 History of England. 

fault with the king and to stir up the En-ghsh to 
do so, and Rich-ard grew to fear him. So he had 
men to sieze the duke and take him to Ca-lais. In 
three days news came that he was dead, and no one 
knew if he had been put to death or if grief and 
rage had brought on a fit. John, Duke of Lan- 
cas-ter, and son, too, of King Ed-ward 1 1 1., was an 
old man and did his best to be friends with the king, 
but he had a son by the name of Hen-ry who was 
a fine, brave young man, and Rich-ard had great 
fear of him. So he made some charge and sent 
him out of the land to stay ten years. Then, when 
the Duke of Lan-cas-ter was dead, the king took 
all his lands and wealth, to which, of course, he had 
no right. Hen-ry, the duke's son, would not bear 
this, and he knew that most of the En-glish thought 
it was not fair. So he went at once to En-gland, 
and as soon as he set foot on its shore the folks 
came in crowds to join him. For by this time 
they had naught but hate for their king. Hen-ry 
thought there was a chance to get the crown, and 
he made haste back from Ire-land. But he found 
no friends save a false one, who gave him up to his 
foes. They took him to Lon-don and made him 
say in the face of Par-lia-ment that his rule had 
been so bad he was not fit to be king. Then they 
made him swear that he would give up the throne 



Hard Times. 99 

to Hen-ry of Lan-cas-ter. He was sent to Pon-te- 
fract Cas-tle and kept there all the rest of his life, 
and we do not hear of him more. 

Hen-ry IV. did not find a smooth path for his 
feet when he did get the crown. The Welsh took 
up arms for Rich-ard, and the Scotch gave him no 
rest. The Earl of North-um-ber-land, who was 
Rich-ard's false friend, thought the king could not 
do too much for him for his help to win the crown. 
This earl had a fine son who w^as so rash and brave 
that he had the name of Har-ry Hot-spur. This 
young man led the troops on the Scotch and beat 
them and took hosts of them. The king sent to 
have these Scotch-men brought to Lon-don, which 
put the proud young Hot-spur in a rage, so he went 
off to Wales and took his men with him. There 
they found more to join them, and they got a large 
force to fight King Hen-ry. The Prince of Wales, 
whose name was Hen-ry, too, was a brave, fine 
youth, and fought well. King Hen-ry won the 
day, and Hot-spur got his death in this jfight. But 
the Welsh were not put down, and the king had no 
peace. He did not know whom to trust, for he 
met plots on all sides. Friends were not true to 
him, so at last he grew to think that all men were 
his foes. In time he would not trust his son, 
Prince Hal, and put slights on him of all sorts. 



lOO Histor-y of England. 

He grew old ere his time, and was ill and had fits. 
His last charge was to his son Hen-ry. He said 
the Prince should keep up the war with France, or 
the En-elish would not let him rest on his throne. 
The death of Hen-ry IV. was m 1413. 



CHAPTER XH. 

HEN-RY v., OF MON-MOUTH. 

The young Prince Hal had been a gay youth 
and fond of all sorts of pranks, but it seems clear 
that most of them were mere fun and did no harm. 
When he was made a king he gave up all his wild 
friends, and his aim was to lead a new life in a 
grave and wise way. Still he thought it right to 
make war on France. The poor old King of France 
was mad, and his wife was bad, and the land was 
in a sad state. Fights went on till the streets of 
Par-is ran red with blood. Hen-ry thought he could 
set things to rights, and he got troops and went into 
Nor-man-dy. There he sent out a call to the folks 
to own him as their true king, and then, he said, he 
would let no harm come to them. 

He laid siege to Har-fleur, both by sea and land, 



Henry V., of Monmouth. lOi 

for five weeks, at which time the town gave up. 
He let the folks go out of it with part of their 
clothes and five pence each. All the rest that they 
had he took for his own men, yet the troops were 
still in want of much. But the king said he would 
not go back till he had struck a great blow. So he 
went on with his small force on the road to Ca-lais. 
When he came to a stream by the name of Somme, 
he could not cross, for there was a fort at the ford. 
As he went on the right bank to look for a place to 
cross, the French made a move on the left bank to 
watch him. They laid in wait to fight when the 
En-glish should try to cross. In the end the En- 
glish did cross the stream. The French then sent 
word to King Hen-ry to know by which road he 
meant to go. '' By the road that will take me 
straight to Ca-lais," said the king ; and he sent them 
off with the gift of a sum of gold, for he sought to 
make friends as far as he could. 

The En-glish went on till they saw the French, 
and then the king gave the word for them to form 
the line for the fight. The French had six men to 
one of the English, and most of them were of high 
rank and the first blood in the land. 

It had been their way to laugh at the bows of the 
En-glish as things not fit for the hands of men of 
birth. The French had spent the night in feasts 



I02 History of Eiigla7id, 

and mirth, but the En-ghsh sought God's help, 
while the king rode from tent to tent to see that 
each man was in his place. He rode on a gray 
horse and wore a gold crown on his head, and on 
his clothes were wrought the arms of En-gland and 
France. He told his men that he had made up his 
mind to win the fight or die, and that En-gland 
would not have to pay a price to the French for 
him. He said he did not wish for one more man, 
as the less their force the more great would be their 
fame when they won the day. As the French did 
not make a move he sent off two men, one to lie in 
a wood to the left of the French and one to set fire 
to a house at the back of them. Then the En- 
glish rose up with a great shout and fell upon the 
French. Each bow-man had a great stake with a 
strong tip. This stake they thrust in the ground, 
shot off their darts, and fell back. So when the grand 
French knights rode up to the fray such a storm of 
darts fell on them that they had to break and turn. 
Horse and man would fall and roll in the dust. 
Those who made out to get up and strive to charge 
the bow-men found the ground so much of a bog 
that they could not keep their feet, and the En- 
glish cut them to bits root and branch. Then the 
dense mass of French troops, whose arms were 
of great weight, sank knee-deep in the mire, while 




HEN-RY THE FIFTH. 



I04 History of England. 

the light EngHsh troops were as fresh and strong 
as if they fought on a floor. And now the fight 
grew more fierce and the Duke of Clar-ence fell. 
The French came round him in a mass, but King 
Hen-ry fought them off. Then came a band of 
French knights, with a lord at their head, who had 
sworn to kill or take the En-glish king. One of 
them struck him such a blow with an ax that it 
made him reel and fall on his knees ; but his men 
made haste to close round him and they slew the 
whole band, so that French lord could not keep his 
oath. The French Duke of A-len-con saw this, 
and he made a fierce charge and cut his way up to 
the flao^ of En-Q^land to take it. He beat down the 
Duke of York, who stood near, and when the king 
came to his aid he struck off a piece of the crown 
he wore. But that was the last blow he made, for 
as he told the king who he was, he fell dead, struck 
by a score of darts. 

This death brought the fight to an end. The 
third part of the French force, which had not yet 
struck a blow, broke and fled. Then it was known 
that the En-glish had won the fight. The loss was 
great on the French side. Three dukes were slain 
and seven counts, and hosts of knights and men of 
birth lay dead on the field. This was known as the 
fight of A-gin-court. 



He7i7y v., of Monmotith. 105 

When the king went home once more he was met 
with cheers, and men made a plunge in the waves 
ere he could reach the shore to bear him to land on 
their backs. Crowds came from each town throuo^h 
which he went, and they hung rich stuffs out, and 
wreaths, and made the founts run with wine as 
the great field of A-gin-court had run with blood. 

King Hen-ry kept Har-fleur and took a great 
part of Nor-man-dy. He took, too, the great town 
of Rou-en, which stood out a siege of a year. 
This made the French think it would be a good 
plan to talk of terms of peace. So they met the 
En-glish on a plain by the Seine. The poor mad 
king could not be there, but the queen came, and 
with her the fair young Prin-cess Cath-a-rine, and 
King Hen-ry saw her for the first time, and his 
heart was won. And so In the end Hen-ry made 
peace, on the terms that he should have the Prin- 
cess Cath-a-rine for his wife, and that he should be 
made Re-gent of France for the rest of the mad 
king's life, and have the throne at his death. And 
so peace came once more, and the poor French folk 
were glad, though they were in such want of food 
that some of them fell dead in the streets of Par-is. 
And now with a fair wife to cheer him, and his 
foes dead, and in time a son born to bring him 
new joy, all was bright for the king. 



io6 History of England. 

But his health was worn out by this time, and he 
grew quite weak and ill. He sent for his friends 
when he knew he was to die, and gave his son to 
their charge. Then he told the priest to chant a 
psalm for him, and ere it was done his last breath 
was drawn. He had been a kind and wise king, 
and he was most dear to the hearts of all En- 
glish-men. There was great grief at his death. 
He was in the prime of life, and so brave that his 
mere name kept his foes in check. He had seen 
that the laws were put in force for the good of 
all, and more than this, he had sought to keep the 
laws of God. 

His son, Hen-ry the Sixth, was but a babe 
when he was made King of En-gland and France. 
He was a meek and mild child, not as brave and 
strong and firm as his friends would have been 
glad to have found him. The war in France 
went on all the time, for the Dau-phin, the son of 
King Charles, had friends who fought for him as 
their real king. The Duke of Bed-ford held the 
rights of Henry, and kept the lands that had been 
won in the north and south-west. 

But just at this time, when the French were 
worn out with war, a strange thing came to pass to 
help them. In a small place in the wild hills of 
Lor-raine there dwelt a young girl by the name of 



Henry V., of Monmouth. 107 

Joan of Arc. It had been her work as a child to 
tend sheep on the wild hills, and she had heard 
ghost tales and talk of dreams, and had seen strange 
shapes in the clouds and mists that swept by. The 
folk then in that part of the land had a child's 
faith in dreams and signs, so it was not strange to 
them to hear that the girl Joan had seen signs, 
that saints had come to her with crowns on their 
heads, or that a voice had said, ''Jeanne, thou art 
sent by God to go and help France." There is 
no doubt that Jean thought she heard and saw 
these things. This went on till she could not rest, 
but went off to find the Dau-phin. A French 
lord bought her a horse and a sword, and gave 
her two squires to lead her. The voice had told 
Jean that she must wear a man's dress, so she put 
one on and girt her sword to her side and bound 
spurs to her heels and rode on till she came to the 
place where the Dau-phin was. It was strange that 
she knew how to pick him out at once from all the 
rest. She told him that there was an old, old sword 
in the church of St. Cath-a-rine, at Frei-bois, and 
that it had five marks of a cross on it, and the voice 
had said that was the sword she must wear. Just 
at this time the En-glish had laid siege to Or-leans, 
and there was sm.all hope for the French. So the 
Dau-phin was glad to catch at a straw. Joan told 



lo8 History of England. 

him God had sent her to get back his reahii for 
him, and that she would drive out the En-gHsh 
from the soil of France and lead him to Rheims, 
where the crown of France should be set on his 
head. 

When she spoke of the old sword no one had 
heard of it, but when they sought it in the church 
it was found. So then the French put their trust 
in the maid, and the En-glish were full of fear, for 
they thought she was a witch. Joan got on a horse 
once more and rode on and on till she came to Or- 
leans. She rode now on a snow white war horse, 
and her coat of arms shone in the sun. She bore 
a white flag in front of her with the words " Je-su 
Ma-ri-a" on it, and in this grand state, at the 
head of a great mass of troops, they bore food to 
the poor folks in Or-leans. When those on the 
walls saw her there went up a shout : " The 
Maid has come." And this and the sight of the 
Maid at the head of their men made the French 
so brave, and gave the En-glish such doubts, that 
their line of forts soon gave way, the French troops 
got in the town, and Or-leans was all their own once 
more. From that time Joan was known as the 
Maid of Or-leans. The En-glish troops were still 
at the walls, but the men had no heart to fight, for, 
they said, it was of no use to strive with a witch. 



Henry V., of Monmoitth. 109 

Still they held the bridge and some strong posts on 
the bridge, and here the Maid fought them for a 
whole day. She was once struck by an En-glish 
dart in the neck and fell in the trench ; but she 
soon said that a voice spoke to her and the pain 
was gone and she rose to fight once more. When 
the En-glish, who had seen her fall and thought her 
dead, saw this they had strange fears. Some of 
them said that they saw Saint Mi-chael on a white 
horse, and that he fought for the French. So they 
lost heart and gave up the bridge. The next day 
they set their chain of forts on fire and left the 
place. They went, with Lord Suf-folk at their 
head, to a town a few miles off, but the Maid of 
Or-leans and her troops laid siege to them there and 
took him. As her white flag was seen to scale the 
walls, Joan was struck on the head with a stone, 
and once more she fell in a ditch. But her cry was 
*'On, on, my friends! Fear not, for the Lord will 
give them into our hands." And so it was ; and 
from that time she won all in her way. She then 
told the Dau-phin, who had kept out of the way of 
the fights, that he must go to Rheims for his crown. 
The Dau-phin made no haste to do this, for Rheims 
was a long way off, and the En-glish were still 
strong in the land through which the road lay. 
But at last he set forth with a laree force, and the 



1 1 o History of England. 

Maid of Or-leans rode on her white war horse at 
their head, and at last they came to Rheims. She 
took all the towns in her way. 

In the great church of Rheims it came to pass as 
she had said, and the Dau-phin had the crown put 
on his head with great pomp. The Maid stood 
with her white flag at the side of the king in this 
great hour. Then she knelt to him and said with 
tears that what the voice had told her to do she had 
done, and now all that she would ask for would be 
leave to go back to her dear home. The king said 
''No," but that he would raise all her kin to high 
rank, and he went on to fix a sum of gold for her 
that she was to have each year. 

So the Maid had to stay and go on and help the 
king, and she did great things for him. She led a 
good pure life, there is no doubt of that. And oft 
she would beg and pray the king to let her go, and 
once she took off her bright coat of arms and hung 
it up in a church and said she would wear it no 
more. But the king won her back, so she went on 
to her doom. 

At last, in a fight the poor maid was struck once 
more and fell in a ditch. There she was left by the 
troops and had to crawl out as best she could. The 
chief men of the French did not like her. They 
felt shame that a girl should have done what they 



Henry V., of Monmouth. m 

could not do. At last, at the seige of Com-peign, 
the troops left her in a base way. She fought to 
the last, till an En-glish-man tore her off her horse. 
Then they put her in jail, and they sought to make 
her out a witch. They would bring her to court 
and try to prove all sorts of things from her word, 
and then take her back and shut her up once more. 
The poor young thing clung to life, and at last said 
she would not wear a man's dress or fight more. 
Then they put her back in her cell, and the voice 
came back to her. At last they said she must be 
burnt for a witch in the great square at Rou-en. 
There they brought her out, and some priests and 
great men in the Church sat in the crowd to look 
on. She was seen to hold the Cross in her hands 
in all the fire and smoke, and she was last heard to 
call on the name of Christ. So to the great shame 
of En-gland and France the Maid of Or-leans was 
put to death. The king, for whom she had won a 
throne, did not lift a hand to save her. Not one in 
his court said a word for her. She had been true 
to them, brave and good, but they were false to her, 
and it stands to their shame for all time to come. 

In the square where this vile deed was done there 
stands to-day, wrought in stone, the form of the 
Maid of Or-leans. 



1 1 2 History of England. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

WAR OF THE RO-SES. 

Henry the Sixth, of Wind-sor, grew to be a 
weak man who had no strength of will. His wife, 
Mar-ga-ret of An-jou, who was fierce and bold, had 
things for the most part her own way. The king 
was good and mild, and would read and pray and 
praise God all the time, while his queen rode 
rough shod, as it were, through his realm. He did 
one good thing for his land. He built E-ton Col- 
leo:e, a orrand school which has done much for the 
minds of some of En-gland's best men. In the 
mean time the folks grew to hate and fear the 
queen, for they saw that her foes were put to 
death in all sorts of ways. At last they thought 
it would be best to take the crown from this weak 
king, who was so ill at times that he did not 
speak for days. The one they thought of for king 
was the Duke of York. 

It is said some of the chief lords spoke of this 
one day as they took a walk in some grounds, 
and one of them took the king's part. He said 
that thouo^h the king: was weak his son Ed-ward 



War of the Roses. 



113 



might be wise, and that for his part he and his 
house would fight for King Hen-ry. Then he 
told all who were of the same mind to do as he 
did and pluck a red rose and wear it in their caps 
to show that they meant to fight for the House of 
Lan-cas-ter. 

Each of the lords who were for the Duke of 
York took a white rose and put in his cap to 
show they would be true to the House of York, 
and so for a score and a half of 
years there was a sad war in En- 
gland, which took the name of 
the War of the Ro-ses. The 
first fight was at St. Al-bans, 
and those for York won. Then 
there was peace for a few years, 
and the Duke of York had the 
rule. But the queen found means to come back to 
En-gland, and to get a great force with which she 
fought the duke's troops more than once, and at last 
beat them. She cut off the Duke of York's head 
and stuck a mock crown on it and put it on one 
of the gates of York. 

Then a young son of the duke met his death at 
the hands of one of Mar-ga-ret's friends in such a 
way that the En-glish grew to hate her still more, 
for they felt she had a hard, bad heart. And crowds 




COSTUMES. 



114 Histo7'y of England. 

of them left her and went on the side of the house of 
York, and they made the dead duke's son, Ed-ward, 
king, so that for ten years there were two kings 
in En-gland, though one was poor Hen-ry who had 
lost his wits by this time. Poor En-gland was torn 
by wars from time to time, and no one felt safe, for 
laws were not kept. At one time King Hen-ry had 
to hide in Scot-land in woods and caves where he 
could not get food and was like to die. 

Queen Mar-ga-ret got more troops, but the 
York-ists beat her at Hex-ham and sent the king to 
the Tow-er. The queen and the young prince got 
off to the w^oods. There they fell in the hands of 
thieves who took the queen's rings and rich gems, 
and then fought for who should have the most. 

While they fought, the queen stole off with her 
child by the hand, but they met a new foe. The 
queen fell on her knees and told this man that this 
boy was the son of his king. The man took them 
in his care, got then some food, and found a way 
for them to get to the sea, where they took a ship 
for Flan-ders. 

But though the queen was gone and Hen-ry was 
in the Tow-er, there was no peace for En-gland, 
for those of the king's own house now set to work 
to stir up strife. These were the Duke of Clar- 
ence and Rich-ard, Duke of Glou-ces-ter. Then 



War of the Roses. 



115 



there was the Earl of War-wick, who fought now on 
this side, now on that, so that he got the name of 
king-maker. Once he brought poor Hen-ry out 
and put him on the throne and Ed-ward had to fly. 
Then Ed-ward came back and War-wick was slain 
in a bat-tie at Bar-net, and Hen-ry was sent back 
to the Tow-er. 




QUEEN MAR-GA-RET. ' 

Oueen Mar-ga-ret came once more with her 
young son and all the force she could get, and there 
was a fight at Tewkes-bury. There the queen 
and young Prince Ed-ward fell into the hands 
of the fierce Duke of York. He said to the 
boy : '* How didst thou dare come to En-gland ?" 
'' I came to try and get back the crown for King 



1 1 6 Histojy of England. 

Hen-ry," said the youth. King Ed-ward struck 
him in the face, and at that sign Clar-ence and 
Glou-ces-ter put an end to the poor boy's hfe. 
Then King Ed-ward sent the queen to the Tow-er, 
and at last the French king paid a large sum to 
have her set free. Hen-ry was found dead one day 
in his cell at the Tow-er, and it was thought he had 
been put to death. So, as all his foes were slain, 
King Ed-ward spent his time in feasts. The Duke 
of Clar-ence, who did not like the queen or her kin, 
was sent to the Tow-er. The near ties of blood 
did not make Ed-ward spare him, and he was put 
to death. But the king did not live long to taste 
the joys of peace. There is not much good to be 
said of him, save that he had a fine face and form 
and was brave. But he was fierce to his foes, and 
self was his god. He did not care for the folks of 
his land, yet it was in this reign that books in print 
were first brought in to En-gland. The art had 
been found out in. Ger-man-y, but no one had set 
up a press in En-gland till one Cax-ton put one 
up in Lon-don. In this reign, too, small guns 
were made that each man could bear in his arms, 
so that there was a^o^reat chano^e in the mode of 
war. 

King Ed-ward did not live to see much of these 
things, for his feasts had done so much harm to 



War of the Roses. iiy 

his health that his Hfe came to an end ere he 
was an old man. 

King Ed-ward left two sons, who were boys at 
the time of his death. The first-born, whose name 
was Ed-ward, was sent for at once. Now Rich-ard, 
Duke of Glou-ces-ter, of whom you have heard, 
who was known as Crook-back, from his odd form, 
had a wish to have the crown. But there were 
lords in En-gland who had made up their mind 
that this should not be. So when the young 
prince was brought to Lon-don he was put in the 

hirTafe!°as the t^f^^mfltomi^^HVf^llMiU 

duke said. They t^^^ 
did their best to spec-i-men of print-ing. 

watch him and keep him from harm, but Rich-ard 
of Glou-ces-ter was full of art. He made out 
in some way to get the young Duke of York 
in his hands, too, and lodge him in the Tow- 
er with the young king. Then he had all the lords 
and friends of the two boys meet him there, as he 
said he would like to talk of the time when the 
crown might be set on the head of the young 
king in the face of all the folks of the land. When 
he met the lords he came in a rage and said he had 
heard of plans to put him to death with some drug. 
With a glance at Lord Hast-ings, one of young Ed- 



1 1 8 History of England. 

ward's best friends, he said, in a fierce way: "What 
should be done with those who make such plans?" 
"They should fare ill," said Hast-ings, "if they 
have done so." ''If? Dost thou speak to me 
with ifs?'' said Glou-ces-ter, with a roar. " By St. 
Paul, I will not dine till thy head is off!" 

As soon as he had said this he struck his hand 
on the board and some men in arms came in. He 
made a sign that they should take Hast-ings, and 
they took him out into the court. Then they laid 
him down with his neck on a log of wood and cut 
off his head. 

Rich-ard w^ent on from this time to put to death 
more of the young king's friends, and the next thing 
he did was to get the folks to make him king. 
As he knew he had no right to the throne, he did 
not feel at ease till he had made way with the 
real heirs in the Tow-er. 

There was a good man in charge of the Tow-er 
whose name was Sir Rob-ert Brack-en-bur-y, and it 
was found that no harm could come to the boys 
while he was there, so he was sent out of the way. 
Then one of Glou-ces-ter's tools, by the name of 
Tyr-rell, was sent to take his place. He got two 
men to go into the boys' room while they slept 
and make an end of them. Then they took them 
down a back stairs and put them in a chest in a 



War of the Roses. 119 

great hole and threw a heap of stones on them. In 
the course of years some men who were at work 
there found their bones in that place in a chest. 
Then they were put in an urn and laid in the 
tombs of kings at West-min-ster Ab-bey. 

Rich-ard Duke of Glou-ces-ter was made king, by 
the name of Rich-ard III. He made some good 
laws, and sought to gain the English heart, but they 
could not like a base man. His reign was short 
and full of strife. First there was the Duke of 
Buck-ing-ham, who got some troops to help him 
make war on Rich-ard, but he lost his head. Then 
there was a man who was near kin to Rich-ard, 
whose name was Hen-ry Tu-dor, Earl of Rich- 
mond. Rich-ard did not love the Earl of Rich- 
mond, as he knew some thought he ought to be 
king. 

Rich-mond wrote to his friends there if they 
would help him, he would come and bring gold 
and men, and En-gland might get rid of her bad 
king. Some of the best men in the land said 
they would join him. So Rich-mond came and 
found men at the shore to greet him with joy. 

Rich-ard was brave though he was so base ; 
so he met Rich-mond at a place by the name of 
Bos-worth Field, and there was a great fight. 
Rich-ard was slain and his men fled from the 



1 20 History of England. 

field. His crown was found on the ground and 
it was set on the head of Hen-ry Tu-dor. This 
fight put an end to the War of the Ro-ses. Hen- 
ry Tu-dor was soon wed to E-hz-a-beth, the child 
of Ed-ward the Fourth, and so the White Rose 
and the Red Rose were made to blend. The king 
took for his badge a great rose half red, half white. 
You may see it now cut in the stone that marks his 
tomb in West-min-ster. 

Hen-ry the Sev-enth was a stiff, cold man, who, 
though fond of show, was mean in his ways. 
The En-glish had small love for him, but they were 
worn out with war. It was said that he was not 
kind to his wife. There were two young men who 
set up claims to the throne in this reign. The first 
said he was the son of that Duke of Clar-ence who 
had been put to death in the Tow-er. He found 
men to fight with him, but he lost the day at Stoke 
and he was thrown in jail. His real name was 
Lam-bert, and as the king found him to be a poor 
weak lad who had been made a tool in the hands 
of bad men, he took him and kept him to train his 
hawks. 

The next fraud was by a young man who said he 
was the Duke of York, and that he had got off from 
the Tow-er when the young King Ed-ward w^as 
slain. He, too, found men to take his part, and the 



War of the Roses. 



121 



King of Scot-land put such faith in his tale that 
he gave him a sweet young girl, one of his own 
km, for his wife. 
This man, Per- 
kin War-beck by 
name, took up his 
march with his 
troops through 
En-gland and did 
much harm ere 
H e n - ry could 
drive him out. 
At last the king 
took him and he 
was hung at Ty- 
burn. H e n -ry 
sent for the wife 
of this man and 
took her to his 
queen, who was 
kind to her and 
kept her at the 
Court. 

There was 
peace in En- 
gland for years, and the young men had time to 
read books, w^hich were by that time in print, and 




CROWN-ING OF HEN-RY THE SEV-ENTH. 



122 History of England. 

learn things of use to them. In this reign men first 
found their way to A-mer-i-ca. They told of the 
new land, the strange trees, and birds, and beasts, 
and they brought some of the new things with them 
to show in their homes. 

Though Hen-ry the Sev-enth was a mean man, 
he spent much gold in right ways. He brought 
men from It-a-ly who could paint and carve in 
stone, and their works were bought for each grand 
place that he built. He did much, too, for trade, 
yet the En-glish did not mourn his death. 



CHAPTER XIV. 



HEN-RY Vni. 



Hen-ry the Eighth now came to the throne in 
1509. He had such frank, free ways, such good 
looks, and skill in all sorts of games, that he won all 
hearts at first. He was well read, too, and would 
send for wise men to dine with him that he might 
talk with them. But as he grew in years he did not 
grow in grace. There was a great change in him, 
and he grew hard and cold and fond of self. 

He made war at once in Scot-land and France. 



116717^ VIII. 



123 



The troops were led in to Scot-land by the Earl of 

Sur-rey, a brave and wise man, and he had with 

him some high born lords and brave knights. The 

Scotch army was made up of their best men, with 

their own king, James the Sec-ond, at their head. 

They met the En-glish at a place by the name of 

Flod-den Field and fought all day. At one time 

the Scotch had the best of it, then the En-glish 

would seem to gain the day. But at last the 

Scotch found they had 

lost their king, and they 

were full of grief. The 

best and most brave of 

their land had lost their 

lives, too, in that sad 

fight. So they had no 

more hope and were glad to make peace with 

En-gland. 

King Hen-ry's war with France did not last 
long. The young king thought he would like to 
have some of the fame of war, but when one fieht 
was fought he made peace. This was known as 
the fight of the spurs, for it is said the French 
made more use of their spurs to get off than they 
did of their swords. And ere long there came a 
young king to the French throne. He is known 
as Fran-cis I. He was fond of gay feasts and had 




COIN OF HEN-RY VIII. 



124 History of England. 

as much love for rides and games and the dance as 
Hen-ry. So the two gay young kings made a plan 
to meet and have some good times, and so they did. 
They met near a place by the name of Ar-dres in 
France. The rich lords of France and En-gland 
with their wives were there. The tents were of 
silk and gold work, and the dames wore gowns 
wrought with gold and gems, and the steeds wore 
silk cloths with gold fringe, and there were feasts 
and jousts and a dance each day. 

This was known as the Field of the Cloth of 
Gold, for there was so much of that rich ore shown 
there, both in the tents and in the dress of the lords 
and dames. 

There was a great man who met with the two 
kings at the Field of the Cloth of Gold. His name 
was Wol-sey. He was a priest and was known to 
be such a wise man that the pope gave him the 
high rank of car-di-nal. A car-di-nal in those days 
was a great man. He wore a long, fine silk robe 
with fur on the edge, and in the street he had a red 
hat on his head with a broad brim. 

Car-din-al Wol-sey was a man who knew more 
than most men of that day. He read Greek, and 
he built Christ Church at Ox-ford, and a great 
school at Ips-wich, with part of the wealth he got 
from the king. But he was proud in his ways, and 



Henry VIII, 125 

the En-glish thought he was to blame for the great 
tax that was laid on them to pay for the king's wars. 
So some of them told the king that the car-di-nal 
spoke ill of him, and made a boast of his wealth as 
though he were more rich and great than the kmg. 
Then Hen-ry went in to a hot rage and sent to seize 
all the wealth of the car-di-nal, and would have cut 
off his head. But it came to pass that the car-di- 
nal was so struck down by grief at the loss of all 
that he held dear that he fell ill. And with his 
last breath he said that if he had but "done as 
much to serve God as he had done to serve his 
king, He would not have left him in his old age." 
The truth was that Hen-ry sought to cast off his 
wife Kath-a-rine, so that he might take a new one, 
and Wol-sey would not help him, for he knew it was 
a sin. The king had cast his eyes on one of the 
queen's maids by the name of An-ne Bo-leyn, and 
he had made up his mind that she should be his 
wife. He found out all at once that Kath-a-rine 
was not his real wife, as she had been brought to 
the court for Prince Ar-thur, the first-born son of 
Hen-ry Sev-enth, who was dead. The pope would 
not give him leave to do this, and time went on till 
at last a priest by the name of Thom-as Cran-mer 
said they might leave it to the wise men in the 
great schools who knew most of law. Hen-ry said 



126 History of England. 

he would have no more to do with the pope, but 
would be the head of the church in En-gland and 
would have things his own way. He said that Kath- 
a-rine was not his wife, and all the rite that had bound 
him to her was null and void ; so he sent her from 
him and made haste to wed An-ne Bo-leyn. Poor 
Kath-a-rine did not live but three years from that 
time. Hen-ry said the En-glish must own him as 
the head of the church, but there were some of the 
best men in the land who would not do this, so 
he had the heads of two of the great men cut off, 
though they had been his best friends. These were 
Bish-op Fish-er and Sir Thom-as More. 

Sir Thom-as More was one of the most wise men 
of the day. He had been at school in Ox-ford, 
and was well read and could both write and read 
Greek. He had learn-ed law, and was said to be 
the first En-glish-man who could make a speech that 
would sway the hearts of men as he chose. He 
had a home where all the best men of the day wxre 
glad to meet him and talk with him on grave things, 
or hear his wife and young folks play and sing, and 
there he found the best joys of his life. Hen-ry 
had made him Chan-cel-lor of En-gland, which was 
the place of most high rank on things of law. So 
when the king chose to take a new wife he had a 
hope that Sir Thom-as More would help him. But 




HEN-RY THE EIGHTH. 



128 History of England. 

not all the kings in the world could have made the 
chan-cel-lor do what he thought was wrong. He 
did not wish Hen-ry to send off his good wife 
Kath-a-rine of Ar-ra-gon, and he still held to the 
pope as the head of the Church. So the king w^as 
in a rage with him, and had him thrown in to jail 
and kept him there a whole year. But he would 
not say the king was in the right, or that he was the 
head of the Church. The king then made up his 
mind to put him to death, and at last said his head 
should be cut off, and he would not let him see wife 
or child. But one of his girls, Mar-ga-ret, lay in 
wait in the street where he must pass as he was led 
to his death, and ran out to kiss him and to beg 
him to bless her. Those who saw it w^ept. So 
this grand man lost his head, and the king had it 
stuck on a pole on Lon-don Bridge, but Mar-ga-ret 
soon made out to get it down, and when she was 
dead it was put in the same grave with her. 

Hen-ry VHI. had his own way and was wed to 
An-ne Bo-leyn, but in time she, too, had to feel 
that the king could change to her as he had done 
to his first wife. A new face won him, and he 
made out that the queen had done all sorts of bad 
things, and then he had her head cut off. On the 
day of her death she sent to beg that the king 
would be kind to her child E-liz-a-beth. Her last 



Henry VIII. 129 

words were to say that she had not done the bad 
things they said, and to pray God to bless the 
king and the En-ghsh folk, and then she laid her 
head on the block. 

The next day the king was wed to Jane Sey- 
mour, who did not live long, or she might have met 
a worse fate. She left one child who was Ed- 
ward the Sixth. 

The king's fourth wife was Anne of Cleves. The 
king did not like her looks, so he soon put her out 
of his way, but he did not kill her. He gave her a 
house and funds for her needs, and that was all. 

Then came the fifth wife, Lady Cath-a-rine 
How-ard ; but in a few months the king found out 
that she was not so good as he had thought, and he 
made short work with her — her head was cut off. 

Yet he found one more dame who did not fear to 
wed with him. Cath-a-rine Parr did not seem to 
mind the risk she ran, and she kept the king in a 
good mood, so that she did not lose her head. He 
was the first to die. 

The time of Hen-ry the Eighth was a time of 
change. In Ger-man-y Mar-tin Lu-ther stood 
forth to teach men that pope or priest should have 
no right to break laws. And there was a wise man 
in En-gland by the name of E-ras-mus, who wrote 
and taught truths that made the En-glish see how 



1 30 History of England. 

much of wrong had crept into the Rom-ish Church. 
Some grew to be foes to the pope and said the 
priests had too much land and gold, and that some 
of them led ill lives and made the poor pay too 
much that they might live well and not work. 

There were some who took the part of the pope, 
and said the priests were wise men and should be 
kept at ease that they might have time to teach. 
Hen-ry at first was on the pope's side, and wrote a 
book with his views and to show how wrong Mar- 
tin Lu-ther was. But when he found that the pope 
would not give him leave to wed as he chose, a 
great change of mind took place. He thought that 
it would be a good thing for En-gland to have her 
king and not the pope at the head of her church, 
and he set to work at once to break up all the 
homes of the church to make the monks and the 
nuns turn out. He said they could all go to work, 
but some of them were too old, or they were not 
strong, and there were those who had to beg or die 
of want. Then he took the lands and wealth of the 
church to do with as he chose. At the same tmie 
he would not let all read the Bi-ble as they chose, 
and they must serve God in his way and not in 
their own. 

Those who were not on the side of the pope and 
who thouoht he had not the right to rule, were 



Mary, 131 

known as Prot-est-ants. They would have all learn 
to read the Bi-ble to find out the true way of life. 

The men who did not think that the homes of 
the church should be torn down, and who still held 
to the pope as head of the church, were known as 
Pa-pists. King Hen-ry made some harsh laws, 
and had some who did not keep them burnt to 
death. One of his worst crimes was that he had 
the head of the young Earl of Sur-rey struck off but 
a few days ere his own death, which came in time 
to save some good men from the flames. There 
was no one to mourn the death of such a king. 



CHAPTER XV. 



MA-RY. 



Ed-ward the Sixth was but nine years old at 
the death of King Hen-ry the Eighth, and he was 
made king at once. He was a mild boy and fond 
of his book, but he was so young that of course he 
had to have men to rule for him. Those who were 
near kin to him and those who taught him were 
Prot-est-ants, so there were laws made by which all 
the En-glish were told that they must be Prot-est- 



132 History of England. 

ants too. The Bi-ble was read by all, and those 
who stood up to preach in church had to pray in 
En-glish and not in Lat-in. The king was to be 
held as head of the Church, the priests could take 
wives, and all who were in jail were set free. 

For all these things the reign of Ed-ward the 
Sixth is thought to have been a good one for En- 
gland. But there were some wrong things done in 
this reign. The Duke of Som-er-set, who had all 
the say, as the young king was in his care, took 
troops into Scot-land and beat the Scots at the 
fight of Pin-kie. Then Som-er-set said he would 
make peace if they would give their young Queen 
Ma-ry to be Ed-ward's wife when he was grown. 
But Ma-ry's kin were Cath-o-lics, and they said she 
should not wed a Prot-est-ant, so they sent her off 
to France. 

Some of the En-glish soon grew to hate Som-er- 
set for his pride, and they made the young king 
think ill of him. He had torn down more than 
one church and grand house to build a fine home, 
which still stands in the same place and bears the 
name of Som-er-set House. 

Now there was one who was as near kin to the 
king as Som-er-set, and who thought he ought to 
have all the rule in the land. This was Lord Sey- 
mour, of Sude-ly, a brave but a bad man. Som-er- 



Mary. 133 

set had him put to death, but soon his foes got 
the king to sign for his death, too. The poor 
boy had a kind heart and did not Hke to sign 
such things. And though the great lords did not 
love Som-er-set, the mass of the folk did, and there 
was great grief when it was known that he was 
to die. He had been kind to them, and had 
made laws that were good for En-gland, and they 
felt he was their friend. Som-er-set bore his fate 
like a brave man, said a few kind words to those 
who were in tears for him, and then laid his head 
on the block. 

The young king was not strong, and by this time 
it grew plain to his friends that he had not long to 
live. He had a sad, lone sort of life, spite of his 
crown, for there were few to love him, and those 
most near to him by blood did not seem to care 
for him. He grew more and more weak, and they 
took him to this place and that for change of air. 
Now the one who was to reien in En-ofland in 
case Ed-ward should die was the Prin-cess Ma-ry, 
who was, as you know, the child of Hen-ry VHI. 
and Kath-a-rine of Ar-ra-gon, and she was a Pa- 
pist, so that all the Prot-est-ants were full of fear 
for their cause. 

The Duke of North-um-ber-land, whose name 
had been Earl of War-wick, had a son who was wed 



134 History of Eiigland. 

to a young girl, near kin to the king. These young 
folks were both Prot-est-ants, and North-um-ber- 
land thought there might be a chance for the young 
wife, La-dy Jane Grey, to have the crown of En- 
gland when Ed-ward was dead. Then as she was 
wed to his son, he would rule in her name. So he 
staid with the young king while he was ill and got 
him to make a will by which he left the crown to 
La-dy Jane Grey. Ed-ward did not live long, and 
his death was a sad blow to the En-glish. He was 
so mild and good and took such pains to do what 
he thought right, that all the land had hopes that 
they would have in him a good and wise king. 
But it was the will of God that he should die, and 
his last words were to ask God to save En-gland 
and to keep pure the true faith. In two days La-dy 
Jane Gray was said to be queen in Lon-don, but 
the friends of La-dy Ma-ry held fast to her, and all 
knew that she was the right queen. There were 
some who would have been glad to have had the 
La-dy Jane, for she was young, and fair, and wise, 
and she was a Prot-est-ant. But the En-glish had 
great fear of North-um-ber-land and they knew he 
would rule them if his son's wife were to be queen. 
So one and all of North-um-ber-land's friends left 
him and took the part of La-dy Ma-ry, and the 
La-dy Jane, who knew that a great wrong had been 



Mary. 



135 



done in her name, went back to her home with a 
glad heart. She had borne the name of queen ten 
days. There she might have spent her Hfe in 
peace but for the plots of North-um-ber-land. 
Queen Ma-ry had brought back the Pa-pist rites. 
The folks had to pray in Lat-in once more, and the 




QUEEN MA-RY. 



pope was said to be the head of the church. Some 
of the En-glish did not like this and the Prot-est- 
ants felt still more fear when thev found that Oueen 
Ma-ry was to wed Phil-ip of Spain. For he was a 
fierce Pa-pist, grim and hard, and all Prot-est-ants 
had great fear of him. So North-um-ber-land 
thought he might raise friends to fight for the La-dy. 



136 History of England. 

Jane, but Ma-ry soon put them down and had his 
head cut off. All the chief men who had been 
with him met a like fate. Then the queen felt she 
would not be safe on her throne while the La-dy 
Jane and Lord Guild-ford Dud-ley should live. So 
she sent them to the Tow-er and kept them there 
shut up for eight months. Then she said that 
they must both be brought to the block ! 

The La-dy Jane had been taught with the young 
king, Ed-ward, and she was like him in her kind, 
sweet ways. But she had been more quick to learn, 
and read and wrote both Lat-in and Greek and all 
the tongues in use at that day. She could paint, 
too, and play. When North-um-ber-land first 
sought to make her claim the crown she would not, 
for, she said, she had no right to it. But at last, 
with much words, they got her to let them set up a 
claim for her. When she found that she must die 
she was calm. She wrote to her friends to take 
leave of them, and she had to see through the bars 
of her cell Lord Guild-ford Dud-ley, her young 
spouse, led out to his death. As she still knelt 
there to pray she saw his corpse brought back in a 
cart. Poor young thing, her fate was hard ! When 
they led her out she had kind words to say to all 
near her. The one who kept the Tow-er, as he led 
her out to her doom, said : *' I pray thee, give me a 



Mary. 



137 



small thing to keep for thy sake," and she gave him 

a book in which she wrote in Greek, in Lat-in, and 

m En-glish. She said to all that she had meant 

no wrong. Then she laid her fair young head on 

the block. The new queen soon grew so harsh that 

the En-^lish ofave her 

the name of Blood-y 

Ma-ry. She would not 

let the Word of God 

be read ; she made the 

priests send off their 

wives and did all she 

could to bring back the 

Ro-man Cath-o-lic 

Church. All who 

would not do as she 

chose were put to 

death. On one day 

there were near three 

score of the first men 

of the land hung, and 

their heads were stuck on poles in the streets. 

She sent E-liz-a-beth to jail and for a time there 

was fear for her life, but her friends got her to a 

safe place. Then Ma-ry was wed to Phil-ip II., 

King of Spain, and the En-glish did not like him. 

He was not kind to the queen, who had lost the 




BURN-ING AT THE STAKE. 



138 History of England. 

charm of youth, and he did all he could to make 
her hate the Prot-est-ants. The queen and king 
knelt to the car-di-nal who was sent to them from 
Rome, and said it was a great sin that En-gland 
had done when she had cast off the pope's rule ; so 
at last the pope said that En-gland might come 
back to the true faith. The two men who did the 
most to help the queen bring back En-gland to the 
old creed were Gar-di-ner and Bon-ner. They 
thought the true way was to burn up all who would 
not think as they did. The first one burnt was a 
good man by the name of Rog-ers. They sent him 
to the great square at Smith-field, and he was bound 
to the stake and a fire lit round him. His wife 
met him with her ten boys and girls, and there they 
took leave of him with tears. The next one to die 
was Doc-tor Hoop-er, Bish-op of Glou-ces-ter. 
With his last breath he said : 'T thank God that 
I have had the strength to speak the truth." 

Bish-op Lat-i-mer was one of the Prot-est-ants. 
He was an old man, but Queen Ma-ry would not 
spare him, and sent him with a friend of his by the 
name of Bish-op Rid-ley to the stake. They spoke 
words of love and cheer to all as the flames came 
to them, and their death did much to make their 
friends more strong in the faith. 

Next came the wise and good Arch-bish-op 



Mary. 139 

Cran-mer. He was a mild man, and his fears made 
him seek to hve. He wrote to Queen Ma-ry and 
plead for his hfe ; but though he did vow that he 
would be a Pa-pist if she would spare him, she 
sent him to be burnt. When they had bound him 
to the stake he was seen to stretch out his right hand 
in the flame that it might burn first, for he said that 
hand had done false work, in that it wrote through 
fear what he did not mean. He kept up a brave 
heart through the fire, and was heard to pray to 
God and praise Him. The way in which he bore 
his death made all feel for him, and there was a 
light lit in En-gland that day which did not soon 
go out. 

Queen Ma-ry went to war with France to please 
Phil-ip, but she lost the day and the French took 
back Ca-lais. Her death came in the same year in 
which she lost Ca-lais, and she had been queen but 
five years. She said when she was dead they would 
find the word *' Ca-lais" on her heart, its loss had 
been such a grief to her. 



140 History of England. 



CHAPTER XVI. 



E-LIZ-A-BETH. 



E-Liz-A-BETH was the child of An-ne Bo-Ieyn, and 
she was known as a Prot-est-ant. She had been 
well taught, and knew both Lat-in and Greek. The 
first thing she did was to set free all the Prot- 
est-ants who were in the jails. Then she brought 
back the Bi-ble, and had men pray in En-glish in 
church. When E-liz-a-beth rode through Lon-don 
to be made queen at West-min-ster Ab-bey, there 
was great joy and all sorts of fine shows for her. 
The streets were gay with flags, and here and there 
an arch was made and bound with wreaths. As 
the queen rode 'neath one of these a boy was let 
down from cords who gave the queen a fine Bi-ble 
and then was drawn up once more. The queen 
was seen to kiss this Bi-ble and press it to her 
heart, and she said it was the gift most dear to her 
of all she had had that day. 

Queen E-liz-a-beth took wise men to help her 
rule the land, and with their aid En-gland was at 
rest, and trade and all the arts of peace had a 
chance to grow. The queen had a dread of war. 



Elizabeth. 



141 



and in all her reign did what she could to keep her 
land free from it. In her reign Prot-est-ants came 
from lands where they might be burnt for their 
faith and made their homes in En-gland. Some 
could spin and weave and dye cloth, and as they 
set up the work of their trades in their new homes 
the En-glish learnt new arts. You know there 




AF-TER THE COR-O-NA-TION, 



was a fair young Queen of Scot-land by the name 
of Ma-ry, whom they had sought to wed to Ed- 
ward the Sixth. She had been sent to France, 
where she had wed the young King of France, but 
he did not live long. Then the young Queen of 
Scots went home to Scot-land. Her life in France 
had been so gay that she did not love her new home 



142 History of England. 

or its folks. She took her French friends with her, 
and did not care for grave things. She sought to 
feast and dance and sing with her gay friends. The 
land had grown Prot-est-ant while she had been 
gone, and this did not please her. At last there 
was a war of Prot-est-ant and Pa-pist in her land, 
and in the end the folks said she might be a Pa-pist 
if she would let them be free to be Prot-est-ants and 
serve God in the way they chose. But she had 
to say that if she had a child it should be brought 
up in the Prot-est-ant faith. Ma-ry had wed one 
of her own kin, Hen-ry Stu-art, known as Lord 
Darn-ley, and they had one son by the name of 
James. Ma-ry did not care for Darn-ley, but chose 
one Both-well for a friend. So when Darn-ley was 
found slain it was thought that the vile plan to kill 
him was hers, though she had been at a ball at the 
time. And when she chose to wed with Both-well 
in three months all were sure of her guilt, and the 
Scots rose and said they would not have such a 
queen. Then there was more war, and Ma-ry was 
put in jail. But by help of one of her friends she 
got out and sought to be queen once more. But 
the Scots would not hear of it, and they made the 
child James their king, with Lord Mur-ray and 
some more lords to rule for him. 

Ma-ry went to En-gland then to see if E-liz-a- 



Elizabeth. 



143 



beth would help her to get her crown back once 
more. And she wrote to the Kings of France and 
Spain to say that if they would help they might get 
En-gland as well as Scot-land back to the pope's 
rule. She wrote to the pope that if they could put 
E-liz-a-beth out of the way all would be well. 

At this time the Prot-est-ants in all lands were 
not left free to serve God in their own way, and 
were put to death for slight cause. All this went 
to rouse the hearts of the Prot-est-ant En-glish and 
to make them fear the 
plots of Ma-ry. The 



Pu-ri-tans, one and all, 
were her foes, and said she 
should be put to death. 
At this time, too, took 
place what is known as 
the Mas-sa-cre of Saint Bar-thol-o-mew, a crime 
that has left a stain on the fair fame of France 
which all time can not wipe out. On the day 
kept for Saint Bar-thol-o-mew all the great heads 
of the Prot-est-ant Church were brought to Par-is 
to see their young chief, the King of Na-varre, wed 
to the Prin-cess Mar-guer-ite. The King of France, 
Charles the Ninth, a young man, led by the fierce 
Cath-o-lics to believe that there was a plot to take 
his life, gave a sign that when a bell should toll a 




COIxV OF E-LIZ-A-BETH. 



144 History of England. 

great force should fall on the Prot-est-ants and slay 
them all at once. When the hour was close at 
hand the king was led to a place where he could see 
the sad work. Through all one night and two days 
the Prot-est-ants were shot — men, their wives and 
babes — and were flung out in the streets till the 
stones were red with blood. In all France the 
same vile deeds were done. From that day the 
king did not know an hour's peace. He would cry 
out that he saw the Hu-gue-nots fall, and their 
groans were at all times in his ears. He did not 
live but a year from those days of crime and blood. 

In En-gland the news of such a deed came 
with a great shock to all, and the court wore black 
for a sign of their grief. And just then a real plot 
was found out that put an end to all hope for Ma-ry, 
Queen of Scots. Some young men with weak 
heads, with a Jes-u-it priest at their head, made a 
plan to kill the queen. They were so proud of this 
plan that they got some one to paint them all. But 
there was one of them who told all to one of E-liz- 
a-beth's chief men, and then the whole plot was 
known. The men were caught and Ma-ry was told 
that all had been found out. E-liz-a-beth was told 
that while she kept Ma-ry she held ''the wolf that 
would some day kill her." 

They brought out the Queen of Scots to try her. 



Elizabeth. 



145 



She said that each charge was false, and that she 

did not write what was shown in court. But it was 

known to have been done by her hand. Queen 

E-hz-a-beth sent word to Par-Ha-ment to know if 

they could not find 

some way to save 

Ma-ry's Hfe. But 

they said '* No," 

there was no help 

for it, Ma-ry must 

die. 

At last the 
Queen, who felt 
that the plots were 
real and that she 
could not be sure 
of her own life if 
she let Ma-ry live, 
sent word that it 
might be, and that 
she would sign the 
writ of death. The 
Queen of Scots felt sure that her time had now 
come, and she wrote to E-liz-a-beth to ask three 
things. First, that her grave might be in France. 
Then that her head might be cut off in the sight of 
all ; and third, that all who had been her friends 




MA-RY STU-ART. 



146 History of England. 

should have what she left to them and be let go to 
their homes in peace. It is said that E-liz-a-beth 
shed tears as she read this, but she did not write to 
Ma-ry. She put off from day to day the sad work, 
and it is said was loth at last to sign her name to 
the writ of death. 

But at last it was done. Ma-ry, on the last night, 
read her will and went to bed and slept some hours. 
Then she rose and spent the rest of the time till the 
break of day on her knees. At eight she was 
drest in her best clothes and took leave of those 
who were with her. She went down stairs with 
the man who was sent for her, with her Bi-ble and 
Cross in her hands. Two of her maids and four of 
her men were with her. In the hall was a low block 
two feet from the ground with a black cloth thrown 
on it. The hall was full, and on one side of the 
block stood the heads-man in a black suit. While 
they read her doom to her she sat on a stool. When 
they were done she said once more that the charge 
of guilt was false, and that all the crimes laid to her 
were part of a state plot to get her out of the way. 
She said she would die in the Cath-o-lic faith. One 
of her maids put a cloth on her face and she laid 
her head on the block and said more than once in 
Latin, *Tn to Thy hands, oh Lord." When her 
head was cut off and held up it was seen that her 




THE TRI-AL OF MA-RY STU-ART. 



148 History of England. 

hair was quite gray. She had borne her fate in a 
brave, sweet way, and the fame of the fair face 
that had long grown worn and sad with years and 
grief, is still kept fresh and light in song and tales 
to this day. 

Phil-ip of Spain sought to wed with E-liz-a-beth, 
but she would not hear of it; then one of the sons 
of the old Queen of France was thought of for her. 
The queen did not say **no" to this, for she sought 
to keep friends with France. But at last she said 
she would wed no one, and she thought she could 
rule the land as welL 

The queen knew that the best way to make En- 
gland strong was to have good ships, so that she 
could meet her foes and fight them on the sea, 
and not let them land on her shores. She had some 
wise men to sail her ships for her, and they went to 
strange lands and brought back tales of the life 
there, and men and things they had found. Sir 
Fran-cis Drake was one of these. And Sir Wal- 
ter Ra-leigh, who could fight on the land or take the 
lead of a ship at sea, was one of the great men of 
the time. He took out the first folks to North 
A-mer-i-ca, and they gave the name of Vir-gin-i-a 
to their homes. He first brought home from South 
A-mer-i-ca a root which is much in use for food, and 
a weed which men smoke and chew. The first 



Elizabeth. 



149 



time they saw Sir Wal-ter smoke in En-gland they 
thought he was on fire, and sought to put him 
out. Queen E-Hz-a-beth had her faults. In those 
days it was not thought wrong for those on thrones 
to say what they did not mean, and so men could 
not trust the word of the queen or her chief, Lord 
Bur-leigh, at all times. If they thought it best for 




A SEA FIGHT. 



the land they would say that they would do what 
they did not mean to do. E-liz-a-beth was small, 
it is said, but made out by her grand ways to 
look the queen. As age came on she grew more 
and more fond of dress. She wore big hoops and 
tall ruffs of lace, and gems strewn on her robes. 
She is said to have had more than ten score of 



150 History of England. 

eowns and a score and a half of wio^s. She had 
some grand men in her court, and Phil-ip Syd- 
ney was one. There was great grief when he met 
his death in Hol-Iand, where the queen had sent 
some troops to help the Prot-est-ants, who were 
in the harsh hands of Phil-ip of Spain. As Syd- 
ney rode, faint with thirst, from the field of the 
fight, some one brought him a drink in a cup. 
Just as he went to raise it to his mouth he saw a 
poor man worse hurt than he, who kept a sad 
gaze on the cup. Syd-ney put the drink from 
him and said: *'Take it, friend; thy need is more 
than mine." Phil-ip of Spain at this time got up a 
great fleet to come down on En-gland and bring 
it back to the rule of the pope. The queen heard 
of the plan and sent out one of her great sea men 
who had been round the world, whose name was 
Ad-mi-ral Drake. He set sail for the port of Ca- 
diz, and took and burnt scores of the Span-ish 
ships, and that kept them back for a whole year. 
But in that time they had a great force, and gave 
it the name of the 'Tn-vin-ci-ble Ar-ma-da," for 
they felt sure it could not be beat. The heart of all 
En-gland was like the heart of one man to rise up 
and beat back this bold foe from their shores. The 
great mass of the Cath-o-lics were true to their land, 
and both sides of the Thames were made strong 




QUEEN ELIZABETH. 



152 History of England. 

with forts, and all were in wait for the proud Span- 
ish fleet. The queen rode out on a white horse 
and made a speech to the brave troops, and was 
heard with cheers of joy. Then came the Span- 
ish Ar-ma-da, with its ships set in the form of a 
half moon, and it was of such great size that it 
was more than six miles broad. But the En-glish 
were soon on it, and they took all the ships that got 
out of the half moon. One night the bold Drake 
sent eight fire ships right in the midst of it. Then 
the Span-iards strove to get to sea, but the En- 
glish gave them chase, and then there came a great 
storm, just as the Ar-ma-da went through the 
Straits of Do-ver. This drove the ships from their 
course and broke them to bits, so that the coasts of 
Ire-land and Scot-land were strewn with their 
wrecks. The En-glish felt that God had come to 
their help, and that wind and storm had fought 
for them. 

Lord Lei-ces-ter, who had been a great friend of 
the queen's, and had at times thought he could get 
her for his wife, was dead. E-liz-a-beth took his 
step-son, the Earl of Es-sex, a brave young man, 
for her best friend. He had the ill luck at last not 
to please her and she sent him to rule Ire-land. 
From the harsh way she wrote to him he thought 
he must have some foes at court. So he did not 




WIL-LIAM SHAKE-SPEARE. 



154 History of England. 

wait for leave but came home and went straight to 
the queen. She was in a rage and would not hear 
him, for she was vain and had been told that he 
made fun of her. Then Es-sex, who was proud 
and hurt, broke his sword in her sight and flung it 
from him ; and what was worse, he got his friends 
to stand up in a sort of mob for his rights. This 
made the queen send him to his house. She told 
him to stay there. But she still felt for him, for 
when he was ill she sent him broth and shed tears 
for him. He spent his time with his books, but 
when he found that the queen took from him some 
of his rights, he grew in a rage and said she was 
vain and old, and no more straight in mind than in 
her form. Some of the court dames were glad to 
catch up these words and tell them to the queen. 

But more than this, Es-sex and some of his 
friends laid a plot to take the queen and make her 
chanofe her head men and send some from her. 
This was found out and Es-sex was sent for, but he 
made out that he was ill. Then one day he made 
a start with a few friends, with the cry : '' For the 
queen, for the queen, a plot is laid for my life ! " 
But no one came to their help and the Earl got 
back to his house, where the troops came to take 
him to the Tow-er. But the queen still had love 
for him and thought she would keep him there till 



Elizabeth. 



155 



he sent some word or sign to her. But he did not, 
and she thought he was too proud to beg for her 
grace, and at last she set her name to the writ for 
his death. So Es-sex lost his head on the block. 
But when he was dead the queen found that he had 
sent her a ring by one of the court dames, and that 
this ring got in the hands of one who was a foe to 
Es-sex and kept it back. When the one who had 
done this was sick to death she sent for the queen 
and gave her the ring and told her all. The heart 
of the queen gave way, and from that time she 
grew all at once old and weak. She would not lie 
down, but sat up till she sank in death. She did 
not speak for days, till at last she told the arch- 
bish-op to pray for her ; and so death came to her 
who had been so brave and strong in 1603. Shake- 
speare wrote his great plays in the time of Queen 
E-liz-a-beth. 




156 History of England 

CHAPTER XVIL 

JAMES I. 

The heir to the throne was now the son of Ma-ry 
Queen of Scots. He was the sixth James who 
had been King of Scot-land, and he had been 
brought up in a strict way by the Scotch Pu-ri-tans. 
He knew books, but not court ways, and he had no 
grace. He could not bear to see a drawn sword, 
and had such a fear that some one would kill him 
that he wore a dress all made thick with wool, 
which did not lend much style to his form. 

The En-glish were not proud of their new king, 
though it was a great thing for En-gland and 
Scot-land to have the same man to rule them at last, 
for it put an end to their wars. 

James had read much and was more wise than 
men thought. He did not like the Pu-ri-tans as 
well as the En-glish Church, for he thought that it 
was best to fix a form by which men should pray, 
and not for each one to pray in his own words. 
But he could not change the Scots all at once, and 
he set wise men to work on the Bi-ble to make it 
all as plain and clear as it could be. 



James /. 



157 



But there were some of the Cath-o-Hcs at this time 
who had got up a plot to get rid of the Prot-est-ants 
and bring back the pope. They were to blow up 
the House of Par-ha-ment on the day when it met. 
They laid a mine 



'neath it, and put 
kegs of their stuff 
there and hid them 
with sticks of wood. 
But one of these 
men had a friend in 
Par-lia-ment whom 
he did not want 
should die. So he 
wrote to him in 
such a way that he 
woke fears in the 
one who read it, 
and search was 
made in the vaults. 
There they found 
the kegs of stuff in 
place to blow all up, 
and a man with a 




JAMES THE FIRST. 



torch to set fire to the train. 
This man, whose name was Guy Fawkes, told all 
when they had laid hold of him. Some of those 
who had been in the plot made out to get from En- 



158 



History of England. 









gland. All the land gave thanks that the plot was 
brought to naught. For a long time that day, 5th 

of No-vem-ber, 

was kept and fire- 

= works set off and 

a shape like that 
of Guy Fawkes 
burnt. It is known 
as '' Guy Fawkes s 
day." 

Hen-ry, Prince 
of Wales, was a 
fine youth, fond 
of ships and apt 
to talk of wars. 
The hopes of En- 
gland were set on 
him, but he grew 
ill, and his death 
was a great blow 
to all. 

King James 
chose friends for 

DEATH OF RA-LEIGH. thclr O^Ood looks 

and not for their good traits of mind and heart. 
To one of them, the Duke of Buck-ing-ham, he gave 
the pet name of Stee-nie, and he s^ave him his son 




gave 



Ja77ies I. 159 

Charles to bring up. When Charies was groom 
they sought to get the child of the King of Spain 
for his wife ; so Stee-nie took the young prince to 
see her, and the two went in plain clothes and took 
the plain name of '* Smith," so that none should 
know them. But when they got to Mad-rid they 
found that the young girl could not be seen, as the 
rules of the Span-ish court were most strict. Charles, 
who had seen the bright eyes of Hen-ri-et-ta Ma-ri-a 
of France on his way, said he would take her for 
his wife. But ere he did this the death of James 
the First came to pass in the year 1625. There 
had not been much peace in Scot-land in this reign, 
as he strove to make all there use the forms of the 
new En-glish church. One of the worst things he 
did was to keep Sir Wal-ter Ra-leigh in the Tow-er 
for years, and at last to cut off his head. James 
was not a man of strict truth. He thought that 
kings might lie, and he gave such lies the name of 
king-craft. 



i6o History of England. 

CHAPTER XVIII. 

CHARLES I. 

Charles I. had good looks and grace of mien, 
with none of the odd ways and tricks of James, so 
that the En-ghsh were glad to hail him as king. 
For some years all was peace, but there were some 
who did not like his friend, the Duke of Buck- 
ing-ham, and thought he had too much to say, and 
they did not like to have a queen who was a' 
Pa-pist. The Pu-ri-tans did not want the rules 
of the Church of En-gland, and there was a man 
by the name of Dr. Laud who was sent to 
each church to put these rules in force. Some 
went off to A-mer-i-ca, where they could serve 
God in their own way, but those who were left 
did not keep still. Then the king had need of 
gold, and chose ways to raise it that the folks did 
not think just. In old times King Al-fred had 
made a tax to build ships. It was known as a 
ship tax, but in time the funds were put to all sorts 
of use. Then, too, gold was got from fines. When 
a man was brought up for a fault they brought him 
to a room known as a Star Cham-ber, and he had to 




vN^: 



CHARLES THE FIRST. 



1 62 History of England. 

pay a good sum to get free. When Par-lia-ment 
would not give the king gold he broke it up, and 
sent through the land to raise funds by the ship 
tax, but there were some who would not pay it. 
They said the king broke the laws when he sought 
to reign with no Par-lia-ment. But King Charles 
would not call a Par-lia-ment for ten years. The folks 
said the worst times had come back when kings 
could rob the poor. Buck-ing-ham had met his 
death by a stab to the heart from the hands of a 
man by the name of Fel-ton. Charles had sent 
help to the French Prot-est-ants at Ro-chelle, which 
was in a state of siege. Buck-ing-ham was to have 
led the troops, which did not please the En-glish at 
all. He was a proud, cold man, and had not made 
friends of them. All thought that the king would 
do well now the bad friend was gone. But he went 
on to try and make the Scots come back to the 
Church. He had a hard time, too, in Ire-land, and 
at last all those who did not like him made a league 
to fight him, and he had to call his Par-lia-ment at 
last to raise funds. They were not in a mood to 
grant boons. They put an end at once to the ship 
tax and the court of the Star Cham-ber, and they 
threw the king's two great friends. Laud and Straf- 
ford, into jail. The Earl of Straf-ford had charge 
in Ire-land, and had kept strict rule there. Pie 



Charles I. 



163 



was thought a hard man, and he sought to make 
the king rule with a strong hand. The Par-ha- 
ment said he should have his head cut off, but 
they could not do it save in the king's name. At 
first Charles stood out and would not give up his 
dear friend, but there was such a rao^e at this that 




THE EN-GLISH FLEET. 



the queen with tears plead with the king to save all 
and put his name to the writ of death. He did so, 
but did not cease to mourn the act till the end of 
his life. The Par-lia-ment took thino^s more and 
more in their own hands, and some of them went 
on to rail at the king in such a way that Charles 
went there to take five men who were the worst 



164 



History of England. 



of the lot. But by some means these men had 
heard of it and were not there, and the Lon-don- 
ers rose up in a great mob to cry down the king. 
The queen, with the Prin-cess Ma-ry, went to Hol- 
land, and there was a 
match made for the 
young girl with the 
Prince of Orange. Then 
the queen bought stacks 
of guns for the troops 
of King Charles, for 
there was war now with 
the kino- and his Par-lia- 
ment. Those who held 
with the king were 
known as Cav-a-liers, 
and those who were not 
with him had the name 
of Pu-ri-tans, or Round 
Heads. They got this 
last name from the way 
in which they wore their 
hair. It was the mode in that day to have the locks 
long, but they chose to have their hair cut short round 
their heads. The Pu-ri-tans had a hate for all the 
forms of the Church of En-gland, and they were for 
the most part strict and grave folks, who did not care 




HEN-RI-ET-TA. 




OL-I-VER CROM-WET.L. 



1 66 History of England. 

for feasts or fine clothes, while the Cav-a-liers^ 
though they were fond of fine dress, were bold and 
brave, full of dash, and fond of a good time. 

Prince Ru-pert led the king's troops. He was a 
brave young man, but was apt to think he had 
won the day ere the work was half done. At first 
the king's troops, who knew most of the arts of war, 
eot the best of it. But there was one man on the 
side of the Pu-ri-tans by the name of Ol-i-ver Crom- 
well who soon made it plain that he was born to 
lead men. From the time he was put at the head 
of the Pu-ri-tans they won their cause. The three 
chief fights were Edge-hill, Mars-ton Moor and 
Nase-by. The Pu-ri-tans had all things their own 
way. Arch-bish-op Laud was put to death, and at 
the same time they put out the priests of each 
church and put their own men in, and would not 
keep in use the book from which the folks had been 
wont to pray. They did not like such fine things, 
and would smash all the glass of rich hues, and use 
the font for a trough, and put their steeds in the 
church. King Charles was in such a sad case he 
thought he might find friends with the Scots, as he 
had been born in Scot-land. But they did not 
prove friends, and gave him up for a sum of gold to 
the En-glish. So Charles was now in the hands of 
the Lon^: Par-lia-ment, which did not wish to have 




CHARGE OF THE IRON-SIDES. 



i68 



History of England. 



a king at all. The king would have done much to 
please them, but there was no end to the things this 
Long Par-lia-ment chose to ask. At last Ol-i-ver 
Crom-well sent some of his men to take the king out 
of the hands of Par-lia-ment, and he set to work to 
try him. First he sent one of his men to turn out 







THE SOL-DIERS RE-MOV-IN^ CHARLES THE FIRST. 

all in Par-lia-ment who would not do his will. Then 
he made a sort of court to try the king. They 
brought all kinds of things to his charge, but as 
Charles thought they had no right to try him he 
would not speak. So they said that in three days 
he should have his head cut off. He bore all in a 
meek, calm way, and was heard to pray for his foes. 
The queen was in France, and his chil-dren, E-liz- 



Charles I. 



169 



a-beth, twelve years old, and Hen-ry of five, were 
brought to see him the night ere he was to die. 
He took his boy on his knee and told him to mark 




CHIL-DREN OF CHARLES THE FIRST. 



what he said, and to mind not to set up for a king 
as long as Prince Charles and Prince James should 
live. The boy said with tears : ''I will be torn to 
bits first." Then there was nauo^ht but for the kinof 



1 70 History of England. 

to kiss and bless them and give them his last good- 
by. 

The next day was Jan-u-a-ry 30, 1649. They let 
the king have Bish-op Jux-on to read and pray 
with him. Then he was led out to a place hung 
with black, and was heard to pray God to bless 
those who had been the cause of his death. 

He did not fear to die, but he did not wish to 
die hard. He said to one near: "Take care that 
they do not put me to pain." He told the heads- 
man : " I will pray a short time and then thrust out 
my hands," and that was to be the sign to strike. 

He said to Bish-op Jux-on : ''I have a good 
cause and a God of grace on my side." The 
bish-op told him he had but one imore stage to 
go in this world, and that was a hard one, but it 
was short and would take him a long way — all the 
way from this earth up to the home of tjhe blest. 

The king knelt down, laid his head on the block 
and spread out his hands, and his head was struck 
off at one blow and held up in the sight of all. A 
great groan burst from the crowd. 

He was put in a tomb at the Saint George 
Chap-el, Wind-sor, by four friends in the dead of 
nio^ht. It was a o^reat shock to the Scots when 
they knew of this sad death of their king, and they 
sent word to the young Prince Charles that if he 




DEATH OF CHARLES THE FIRST. 



172 History of England. 

would come to them they would set him on the 
throne. Charles came, but he found that the Scotch 
were too strict and dull to suit him. The things 
that made the joys of his life were sins in their 
eyes. Still they gave him their help, and some of 
the En-glish Cav-a-liers came to his aid. They 
put the crown on his head at Scone, and he took 
the head of the army and went on to Stir-ling. 
Ol-i-ver Crom-well was ill in bed, but when he 
heard of this march he got out of bed in no time, 
and went to work with a will. He got in the rear 
of the troops of Charles and cut them off from Scot- 
land. There was naught for them to do then but 
to go on to En-gland. Then Ol-i-ver came 
up to them at quick speed and a great fight 
took place at Wor-ces-ter. The Scotch fought in 
such a brave way that it took five" hours for 
Crom-well to beat them. Charles fled in the 
night with some of his men to the house of a Cath- 
o-lic dame. There he had his hair cut off and 
went out at break of day as if to his work, in the 
clothes of a poor man and with an ax in his hands. 
Some men, whose work was to cut wood, went with 
him and they made a bed for him in the woods. 
From there he got on, and hid at times in barns. 
Once he had to climb up into a fine old oak and 
hide in the leaves, for he heard Crom-welFs troops 



Charles I. 



173 



ride by, and he could hear from his perch the crash 
in the woods as they went on and beat the boughs. 
Then he had to walk and walk for more than one 
long day, and once when his foes gave chase to him 
there was a young girl by the name of Miss Lane 
who let him ride on the same horse with her and 







BUR-IAL OF CHARLES I. 



strove to pass him off as a youth she had to serve 
her. But when they got to an inn he ran a great 
risk, for he did not know how to turn a spit when the 
cook bade him. But he got off safe, and a boat 
took him to France w^here the queen then dwelt. 
E-liz-a-beth and Hen-ry had been sent to the Isle 
of Wight. The young girl was seen to pine day 



1 74 History of England. 

by day, and one morn they found her dead, with 
her face laid on the Word of God, which she held 
in her hand. Then Hen-ry was sent to be with the 
queen in France. James of York, the son who was 
next in age to Charles II., was in Hol-land ; but at 
last the two went into the French ranks to learn the 
art of war. Ol-i-ver Crom-well, in the mean-time, 
had kept up his rule. He put down the I-rish with 
a strong hand, and when he did not want the Long 
Par-lia-ment he just went in with some troops and 
broke it up. Then he had a Par-lia-ment of his 
own, made up of a few men who would do as he 
bade them. The head man had the name of Bare- 
bones, so this was known as the Bare-bones Par-lia- 
ment. Ol-i-ver Crom-well did not have the name 
of a king, but his reign was like one for five years, 
with the same might as a real king. And he was 
not a bad man to rule En-gland, for he thought it 
was God's work and that God meant him to do it. 
Though he made war on a king and put him to 
death at last, he thought he was right. He felt that 
he was sent from the Lord to fight with his Bi-ble 
and his sword. The Cav-a-liers had a hard time 
with him, and he made them pay fines and some 
lost their lands. Some went to Holland or France, 
and sent their wives home now and then to get 
the rents. Crom-well was stern, but he sought to 



Charles I. 



175 



be just, and he had to do as he did to keep the reins 
in his own hand. The Cav-a-hers could no more 




THE BREAK-ING UP OF PAR-LIA-MENT. 



have their own way in church, so they met in woods 
and caves and vaults. 



1 76 History of England. 

Crom-well's death came at the end of five years, 
and his son RIch-ard had not the same strength of 
mind and strong will. He found he could not rule 
En-gland, so he gave it up and went home to his 
own house. The folks gave him the name of ** Tum- 
ble-down-Dick." 

No one knew then what was the best move to 
make, till Gen-er-al Monk, who was at the head of 
the army, said they had best bring back the king. 
So the Par-lia-ment sent word to Charles II., and 
a fleet went to fetch him. He came and rode 
through Lon-don streets, which were hung with 
green boughs and silk flags, and all were glad to see 
him back. But in the midst of the joy came the 
death of Prince Hen-ry and then of the Prin-cess 
Ma-ry, who had been the wife of Wil-liam of Or- 
ange. She left one son, of whom you will hear 
in time. 

Then there was more change in all ways. In each 
church the Pu-ri-tans gave way once more to those 
of the Church of En-gland, and Jux-son, who had 
been with Charles I. at his death, was made arch- 
bish-op. The troops of Crom-well broke up, all but 
one band of men, whom the king took as his 
guards. 

In the end, though they had brought back 
Charles, Pu-ri-tans and Cav-a-liers both felt that 



Charles I. 177 

they had cause to find fault. Each thought the 
king should do more for him, and each had an ax 
of his own to grind. So Cav-a-lier and Round- 
head grew to have new names, and were known as 
Tory and Whig. 

A man had need be both strong and wise to have 
dealt so as to please all, and Charles was a man 
who sought most to please his own self. He was 
bright, but not wise or good. He was full of wit 
and said droll things, but he did not keep his word, 
and none could trust him. He had a set of friends 
who were a shame to his court, but he did not care 
if that they made the time pass, so that he should 
not be dull. These friends took gold from the 
French king to get Charles not to help the Dutch 
in their war with the French. Then the Dutch 
went to war with the En-glish for this, and there 
were some sea-fights in which James, Duke of York, 
fought in a brave way. 

In the year 1665 there was a sad plague in Lon- 
don. Folks were struck with it in a strange way if 
they went near those ill with it, and they would die 
in a few hours. When the plague was in a house 
the door was shut and a cross in red chalk put on 
it as a sign that none should go out or in. Food 
was set out-side of the door so the folks could get it, 
and a cart came round each day which would stop 



17' 



History of England. 



at the house. The men who drove it would call, 
*' Bring out your dead," and when a corpse was 
brought out it was borne off and thrown in a deep, 
long ditch. At last, by the grace of God, this sad 
pest left Lon-don, and has not come since. The 

next year there 
^ "was a great fire in 

Lon-don, which 
burnt down whole 
streets. St. Paul's 
Ca-the-dral was 
burnt in this fire. 
At last they had to 
stop it in this way: 
They blew up all 
that stood in the 
course of the flames, 
so that there was a 
space that the fire 
could not leap. In 



Scot-land the king 
sought once more 
JOHN MIL-TON. ^^ ^^k^ thcm usc 

the mode of the Church of En-gland. Then the 
Scots would not go to Church, but met on hills and 
moors. Troops were sent to break this up, and there 
were sad scenes. The king's men were the most 




Charles I. 179 

strong and did harsh things, and vile acts were 
done. 

Charles had no heir, and the Duke of York 
was a Cath-o-lic, so there was a plot, known as the 
Rye House plot, to kill him, so that the throne 
might go to the Duke of Mon-mouth. This young 
man was the son of Kino^ Charles and a ^\x\ to 
whom he had not been wed. This plot was found 
out. The head men lost their lives, and Mon- 
mouth fled to Hol-land. 

Charles would let men preach to him and hear 
what they said of his life with a smile, but he 
did not leave off his bad ways. He spent the 
last Sun-day of his life at play with his gay friends 
at cards. Then he had a stroke and sent for a 
Cath-o-lic priest. So it came out that he had been 
a Cath-o-lic all his life, but had not let it be known 
lest he should lose his crown. 

In this reign there were two great books brought 
out. John Mil-ton, who had lost his sight, wrote 
''Par-a-dise Lost." And John Bun-yan, a poor 
man whose work was to mend pots and pans, 
wrote the ''Pil-grim's Prog-ress." 



i8o History of England. 



CHAPTER XIX. 

JAMES II. 

James II. was at least so far true in that he made 
his faith known. He was a Cath-o-Hc, and he had 
not the grace by which Charles II. had won En- 
glish hearts. He was grave, sad and stern. The 
Duke of Mon-mouth came back and found some 
to call him king in the West of En-gland. Groups 
of girls in white met him with wreaths, but that did 
not help him win his cause. He lost the fight at 
Sedge-moor and fled. He was found in a smock- 
frock in a ditch. They took him to Lon-don, where 
the Court went on to try him and he was hung. 
James was most harsh with all who had lent aid to 
Mon-mouth. He sent a man by the name of Jef- 
freys to try them all, and most were hung. This 
man was so fierce and coarse that his trip is known 
since as the "Blood-y As-size." So the reign of 
James II. was harsh from the first. He gave the 
best posts in the Church and State to Ro-man Cath- 
o-lics, and the Prot-est-ants saw this with more and 
more fear. 

James had no son, but he had two girls, the 




JAMES THE SEC-OND. 



1 82 Histoiy of England. 

Prin-cess Mary, who was wed to the young Prince 
of Or-ange, and An-ne, who was the wife of Prince 
George, of Den-mark. He was a dull man, and it 
was the mode to laugh at him, but he had a son of 
whom there was much hope. 

But James II. took it in his head to take a new 
wife. She was a prin-cess from It-a-ly, and a Ro- 
man Cath-o-lic. So when she had a son the Prot-est- 
ants, who did not want more Cath-o-lic kings, said 
they thought that this child was not the true son of 
the king and queen, and all the land was in a sad 
state. Then Wil-liam of Or-ange came, and crowds 
went at once on his side, till James saw that it was 
not safe for his wife and child in En-gland. So he 
sent them to France and staid on for a while. 
But when he heard that An-ne had gone on the 
side of the Prince of Or-ange tears came in his 
eyes and he said: '*God help me; my own child 
leaves me." So he got off in plain clothes and 
went to France, where he had St. Ger-main for 
a home. 

It was on the 4th of No-vem-ber, 1688, Wil- 
liam of Or-ange set his foot on shore, and from that 
time came the change known as the En-glish Rev- 
o-lu-tion. Par-lia-ment gave the crown to Wil-liam 
and Ma-ry. 

But all the Ro-man Cath-o-lics were still of course 



Ja7nes II. 183 

for James. They were known as Ja-cob-ites. They 
thought that no one had a right to have his place 
and they would not take the oath to serve the new 
rule. Arch-bish-op San-croft, Bish-op Ker and 
some more would not take the oath, but gave up all 
their wealth and their high posts and led lives of 
hard work and want. From time to time James 



FLIGHT OF JAMES II. 

strove to get his crown back, and Lou-is, King of 
France, gave him aid, but all in vain. As most of 
his friends, the Ro-man Cath-o-lics, were in Ire-land, 
he went there to fight. He got on well in the south, 
but in the north they would not help him. He laid 
siege to Lon-don-der-ry, but it held out for more 
than three months, so that all were like to die for 



1 84 



History of England. 



want of food. Then En-gland came to their aid. 
Wil-ham came with troops and there the two met 
and fought on the banks of the Boyne on the ist of 
July, 1690. James was put to route and had to 
leave Ire-land. All his friends there paid dear for 
the aid they gave him. 

In the mean-time, while Wil-liam of Or-ange 



ft"' / V 







KING WIL-LIAM THROWN FROM HIS HORSE. 



fought the French in Hol-land, there was great 
grief at the death of Ma-ry from small-pox. She had 
left no child. Par-lia-ment said that Wil-liam could 
be king and on his death Prin-cess An-ne should be 
queen, and they made an act that no Ro-man Cath- 
o-lic, nor one who was wed to a Ro-man Cath-o- 
lic, should sit on En-gland's throne. The En-glish 



James II. 185 

To-ries did not like this act, as they had not much 
love for King Wil-liam. He was a thin, spare man, 
with sharp, rough ways. He was not in good 
health, and that may have made him more sharp. 
He kept the reins, though, with a strong hand, but 
he was at war with France all the time. Then 
there rose a great war at this time as to who should 
have the Span-ish throne, and of course Wil-liam 
was not on the French side. But ere he went out 
to fight in this fresh war, as he rode one day, his 
horse trod in a mole hill and threw him. This hurt 
his weak chest so much that he did not live but a 
few days. The Ja-cob-ins were glad of his death. 



1 86 History of Erigland. 

CHAPTER XX. 

QUEEN AN-NE AND THE GEOR-GES. 

An-ne was made queen on the death of Wil- 
Ham III. She meant well, but she was weak and 
let her friends rule her. The one who could do as 
she chose with her was Sa-rah Jen-nings, who was the 
wife of a man in the troops by the name of John 
Church-ill. This man was so brave he was in time 
made a peer — the Duke of Marl-bor-ough. Though 
An-ne was on the throne, the duch-ess was the real 
queen. The duke went out with the troops to 
fight the French, so that they should not get the 
throne of Spain. The En-glish took Gib-ral-tar, 
and have kept it from that time. Marl-bor-ough, 
with the Ger-man Prince Eu-gene, beat the French 
in a great fight at Blen-heim. For this the queen 
gave him a grand place and a fine house, to which 
they gave the name of Blen-heim. Marl-bor-ough 
won more fights, and his wife took on more airs 
and grew so proud that she thought the queen 
could not get on save by her help. At times she 
brought the poor queen to tears by her harsh 
words, for she souc^ht to rule her in all thincxs. 



Queeji Anne aiid the Georges. 187 

At last the queen could bear it no more. She 
broke with her friend the duch-ess, and brought 
Marl-bor-ough back in the midst of his fame, and 
so she was set free from her bonds. There were 
some who thought it time to end the war with 
France, but the Whigs did not like to give it up 
while En-gland won. Marl-bor-ough did not keep 
his health long, for it was a great blow to him to be 
brought back in the midst of his fame. In the 
time of An-ne the Par-lia-ment of Scot-land and 
that of En-gland were made one. This did not 
please some of the Scots, and they went on the 
side of the Ja-cob-ites. If the young James III., 
as he was known by the Ja-cob-ites, would have 
sw^orn to join the En-glish Church, he might have 
had a chance to reign ; but he was too strong in 
his faith, so An-ne would not help him. 

In Queen An-ne's time there were some great 
men who wrote books that we read to this day. 
Pope wrote his verse then, and there was one book 
that all young folks read now. The name of it 
is ''Rob-in-son Cru-soe." 

Queen An-ne had a hard time with her To-ry 
friends. She was mild and fond of peace, but 
they would not let her have it. The stroke which 
was the cause of her death is said to have been 
brought on by a fierce scene with them. Tea came 




GEORGE I. 



Quee7i Anne and the Georges. 189 

in use in An-ne's reign. It was brought from 
Chi-na. It was the mode to drink it out of small 
cups, clear and thin as an egg-shell. Mr. Ad-di-son 
wrote in this reign a news sheet, once a week, which 
held up to scorn the faults of the day. The name 
of it was the Spec-ta-tor. 

You know the Prin-cess So-phi-a had wed the 
E-lect-or of Han-o-ver, and she was to have the 
throne when An-ne was dead. But she had been 
the first to die, so her son George was now the heir. 
He did not care much for it and he was so fond of 
the land of his birth that he is said to have staid at 
home for days in hopes that the En-glish would 
take James Stu-art for their king. But they did not, 
so at last he had to set out. He did not know much 
En-glish and had to talk bad Lat-in or French. 
He did not bring his queen with him., for he was 
on bad terms with her and had shut her up in a 
great house like a jail, in Ger-man-y. He had a 
son, George, who had a bright young wife, Car-o- 
line of Ans-pach, but the king did not seem fond of 
them, and did not let them stay long in En-gland. 

The Ja-cob-ins, who had made no move in the 
right time to get the throne for James Stu-art, rose 
when it was too late. The white rose was the 
Ja-cob-ite mark, and they wore it when they fought 
two fights on the same day, one in En-gland and 



I go History of Englafid. 

one in Scot-land. The first one was at Sher-iff 
muir, and was left in such doubt that there is a 
Scotch song of it, in this wise : 

" Some say that we won, 
And some that they won, 
Some say that none won 
At a', mon. 

" But of one thing I'm sure, 
That at Sher-ijff muir 
A fight there was — 
That I saw, mon. 

"And we ran and they ran, 
And they ran and we ran, 
And we ran and they ran 
Awa', mon." 

The En-glish fight was at Pres-ton, and the Ja- 
cob-ites lost, and were for the most part thrown in 
jail, so that when James Stu-art, who was known as 
the Chev-a-lier, came to land, he found no friends 
and had to go back to It-a-ly, where he spent the 
rest of his life. The chiels of the Ja-cob-ins were 
sent to Lon-don, and three of them had their heads 
cut off. The wife of the Earl of Niths-dale made 
out to save him. She went to see him in the 
Tow-er and took a tall dame with her, who wore 
two sets of clothes. This dame went off. Then, 
when it was time for a change of guard, the earl 
put on the clothes she had left and with the hood 
low on his face went out. The wife staid for a 



Queen Anne and the Georges. 



191 



En-gland 



o^rew 




while and went on with her talk as though the earl 
were there, till the time came when it was her wont 
to leave him. Then she, too, went out and met her 
lord and they hid till they could get to France. 

in wealth while George I. was 
king. In I n -d i a 
towns sprang up 
where there had been 
but a house of trade 
here and there. But 
the En-glish did not 
like George I., and 
he was not fond of 
them. He spent 
most of his time in 
Han-o-ver. As he 
drove there in his 
coach one day some 
one threw in a note 
to him. While he 
read it he had a 
stroke and was dead 
in a few hours. 
Some one said that 
note spoke of his sins to his wife whom death 
freed in the house where he had shut her up 

was in 1725. 



CHARLES ED-WARD. 



the 
had 



so 



long. 



The death of George I 



192 



Histo7y of England. 



There was a change in the mode of dress in 
this reign. The wigs were worn small, and young 
men wore their own hair, with a sort of white dust 
on it, and a long tail at the back known as a queue. 
The dames wore 
their hair in 



a 



high pile on the B 
tops of their ' 
heads, with the 
same white dust 
on it, and they 
had great hoops, 
and high heels to 
their shoes. They 
thought, too, a 
black patch on 
the face here and 
there made them 
look more fair. 
All took snuff in 
those days, so a £ 
fine, rich snuff- ^ 
box was part of 
one's wealth. The reign of George II. was 
full of wars. He was the last king of En- 
gland who was in a fight. This was at Fon- 
te-noy, and was part of a great war to fix who 




DEATH OF GEORGK I. 



Queen Aniie and the Georges. 193 

should be Em-per-or of Ger-man-y. France and 
En-gland were not on the same sides. Charles 
Ed-ward Stu-art, the son of James, who had been 
known as the Chev-a-lier, thought there might now 
be a chance for him to get back the crown of his 
race. He was a young man of fine looks, and 
when he stept on Scotch soil he won all hearts, 
and the Scots brought their clans to fight for him, 
so that he soon was at the head of a great force, 
with which he took the town of Ed-in-burgh. Most 
of the En-glish troops were off in Ger-man-y, so 
he won the fight at Pres-ton Pans, and took up his 
march straight on into En-gland. There was a 
a great fight, for the clans m their plaids, with long 
swords and strange speech, were like some wild 
tribe to the Lon-don folks. They might have swept 
all in their way if they had not grown so home- 
sick in the strange land that Charles Ed-ward had 
to let them turn back to their hills once more. Then 
the En-glish troops got back in time to chase 
them, and they lost men each day. But they made 
a stand at the heath of Cul-lo-den. There there 
was a great rout, and the prince had to fly for his 
life and hide till he could find a way back to France. 
The Duke of Cum-ber-land was not mild with 
those he took in this fight. All those who had lent 
aid to the young prince were put to death at Car- 



194 History of England. 

lisle, for the most part. This rise was Known as 
the '' Re-bel-lion of the For-ty-five," as it took 
place in 1745. There were wars by sea and land 
in the reign of George II. In A-mer-i-ca, where 
some of the French and En-glish had found homes, 
they fought and had a hard time, and the Red 
Men were now on this side and now on that. 
In the East In-dies, too, the French and En-glish 
had made ports of trade. But all at once the In- 
di-ans came down on Cal-cut-ta. Those of the 
En-glish who could, got off on ships, but those who 
could not were shut up in a small room, in the 
most hot time of the year. There were 146 of 
them in that place, with no air, and were in such a 
crush that they could not breathe. When dawn 
came not much more than a score had life left in 
them. This is known as the Black Hole of Cal- 
cut-ta. But next year En-gland, with Col-o-nel 
Clive, won back Cal-cut-ta, and at last made the 
French leave In-dia. 

The death of George II. came when he was 
quite an old man. His son Fred-er-ick was dead, 
too, so his grand-son, George III., came to the 
throne. 



George III. 195 



CHAPTER XXI. 

GEORGE III. 

George III. had been born in En-gland, so he 
had some love for the land, its folks and its ways. 
He was a good man, and sought to do what he 
thought right, and he was firm as a rock when 
he felt he was rio'ht. He would ride or walk 
through a street or field as if he were just a plain 
squire, with no pomp or state. He would talk to 
the folks of their work and their lives, and ask all 
sorts of things, and say, "What, what, what," in a 
queer way that made them laugh. His wife was a 
Ger-man princess by the name of Char-lotte, and 
they brought up their boys and girls in the right 
way; at least they did their best to make them 
good. 

As soon as George HI. came to the throne a war 
broke out in A-mer-i-ca. They did not like a new 
tax that had been laid on the tea which was in use 
there. They got it straight from Chi-na, and 
thought no one had a right to tax it. So though 
they were more fond of this drink than the En- 
glish in those days, they gave it up and threw 




GEORGE THE THIRD. 



George III. 197 

whole ship-loads in the stream. Then they all rose 
in a great fight to get free from En-glish rule, and 
a man by the name of George Wash-ing-ton took 
the head of the troops. The French, who were 
not friends with the En-glish, lent help to the 
A-mer-i-cans. There was a great man by the name 
of Ben-ja-min Frank-lin sent to the Court of France 
to win them as friends. He had found out strange 
things. You know in a storm how there is a 
fierce light at times which tears through a cloud 
and .now and then strikes a house or barn and 
burns it to the ground. Frank-lin found out how 
to lead this from a house so that no harm could be 
done. And now you can see wires that run down 
the sides of a house or a church. They are set 
in glass here and there, so that they lead the strange 
force straight in to the ground and make the 
house or church safe, so that it can not be struck. 

On the 17th of June, 1775, a fight took place at 
Bun-ker Hill, near Bos-ton. The day was hot. 
The A-mer-i-cans had put their men back of a rail 
fence, which they had made out to stuff with hay so 
as to make it a sort of screen. They had no food, 
and were for the most part raw troops who did not 
know drill, and they had poor arms. But the 
Brit-ish had to march through a field, and they were 
in full sight. They felt the great heat, such as 



198 



Histo7'y of England. 




COIN OF GEORGE III. 



they had not known in En-gland, and they had food 

and stores in packs on their backs. When the 

word ''fire" was heard and the smoke was gone, 

the ground w^as seen strewn with Brit-ish dead. 

A great cheer went up from the forts, and 

cheers came from back of the rail fence. The 

Brit-ish w^ore red coats, 

and could be seen from 

far, so their loss was 

great. But in time 

the A-mer-i-cans had 

spent their last charge 

and had to fall back 

as best they could. The Brit-ish had shown stout 

hearts to march up in the face of such a fire. 

On Ju-ly the 4th, 1776, what is known as the 
Dec-la-ra-tion of In-de-pen-dence was drawn up, 
and some of the best men who were at the head of 
things -in the States, put their names to it. All the 
States but New York gave a vote for this, and then 
it was thought to be time for the U-ni-ted States to 
have a flag of its own. Con-gress said it should 
have red and white stripes, a stripe for each of the 
States and a white star for each State in a blue 
field. When a new State comes in a new star is 
put on the flag. 

Lord Howe wrote to George W ash-ing-ton, Esq., 



George III. 199 

to say what terms of peace King George would give 
the A-mer-i-cans. But Wash-ing-ton chose to have 
his name as head of the troops put on all his notes, 
so he took no heed of this one. Then there was 
naught left but for Howe to fight. At first the 
A-mer-i-cans lost and Wash-ing-ton had to leave 
New York in the hands of the Brit-ish. His men 
were in want of clothes and some of them had no 
shoes. He felt that he must strike a blow at once. 

There were some Hes-sian troops at Tren-ton, 
who' had come from Ger-man-y to help the En-glish. 
It was Christ-mas and Wash-ino^-ton knew that 
these folks would keep the day with feasts. So on 
the night of that day in a storm of sleet he set out 
to cross the Del-a-ware, and at day dawn he was on 
the Hes-sians and took them all, and their head 
man fell in this fi^ht. 

So the A-mer-i-cans fought on year by year, and 
all saw that they would have their rights and be 
free. Some wise men told George HI. that he had 
best give up the w^ar with them. The old Lord 
Chat-ham did not think so and came up from his 
home to make a speech, for he would not have En- 
gland give up aught. But just as he went to speak 
he fell to the floor in a faint and did not live but a 
month from that time. 

George HI. at last gave up all rights to the land 




/ 



WIL-LIAM PITT, SON OF LORD CHAT-HAM. 



Gcoj'oc III. 20 1 



<b 



now known as the U-ni-ted States of A-mer-I-ca. 
These States then set up a form of rule which has 
gone on since that day. They have no king, but a 
Pres-i-dent for whom they vote once in four years. 

En-o^land won much in In-dia in this rei^^n. The 
chief o^rief of Georo-e III. was that some of his sons 
were wild and fast young men. The Prince of 
Wales was vain of his fine looks, and his whole aim 
was to dress well and set the mode in taste. He 
spent vast sums in wrong ways and sought to vex 
the king and queen as much as he could. He had 
a scorn for their plain style of life. Wil-liam Pitt, 
the son of Lord Chat-ham, was the chief man in 
En-o^land in this reiofn. He souo^ht to brinof in a 
bill by which the Ro-man Cath-o-lics should have 
the same rights in all things as the Prot-est-ants. 
George HI. thought it would not be right for him 
to grant this, and there was so much strife that the 
king's health and brain gave way for a time. 

Just then there were sad scenes in France. The 
poor had been ground down in past reigns, and now 
when they had a good and kind king, Lou-is 
XVI., they rose in all parts of the land. He had 
to bear the scourge for the acts of a long line of 
kings. Mob law was the rule, and the folk sought 
to get rid of all the great ones in the land. 
Kings, priests and men of rank lost their heads 



202 



History of England. 






each day. This sad time is now known as the 
great French Rev-o-lu-tion. At last the French 
grew sick of strife and blood. A young man rose 
from the ranks by the name of Na-po-le-on Bo- 
na-parte, and took 
the head of the / ,' ^ ^^''^^y^/, 
land, as the kmg 
had been slain. He 
beat the Ger-mans 
and won all in his 
course. It was 
thought he would 
make France too 
strong for the rest 
of the world if 
they could not stop 
him, so when he 
went out to take 
E-gypt and all the 
East, Lord Nel- 
son took some 
ships and went 
there too, and beat 
the whole French fleet at the mouth of the Nile. Nel- 
son next won in a fight with the Danes, and took all 
the Dan-ish ships. Then when Spain made friends 
with France, Nel-son beat them both at Cape 




LORD CHAT-HAM. 



Gcoi'gc III. 203 

Traf-al-gar. This was the last fight of this great 
man, for he got his death wound there, to the grief 
of all. The war made it hard for those at home in 
En-gland. Food and all things else were dear, and 
a high tax ground down the poor. But Na-po-le-on 
was now em-per-or, and still had such strange luck 
in his fights that all lands were in aw^e of him. En- 
gland felt the best way to keep him in bounds was 
to help the lands which w^ere at war with him. 

The old king in his last days grew blind, and 
then came the death of the Prin-cess A-me-lia, the 
child oi whom he was most fond. The cloud came 
on his mind once more, and he had to be shut up in 
Wind-sor, where his good wife staid with him and did 
her best for him till her death. When Geori^e III. 
lost his mind his son, the Prince of Wales, was made 
Re-gent. You know a re-gent is one who rules for a 
king. He went on to help Spain, which was at war 
with France in those days. Na-po-le-on had put one 
of his own blood on the throne of Spain, and the 
folks sent out a call on En-gland to help them. Sir 
John Moore went with some troops and won a fight 
at Co-run-na. But a shot struck him and they had 
to wrap his cloak round him, put him in a grave 
there at the dead of nioht, and leave him. 

Then Sir Ar-thur Wel-les-ley was sent out to 
Spain. In three years' time he drove the French 




DEATH OF NEL-SON. 



George III. 



205 



from that land and gave chase to them and won the 
fight of Tou-louse on their own soil. This war was 
known as the Pe-nin-su-lar War. Sir Ar-thur 
Wel-les-ley was made Duke of Wel-hng-ton. By 

time all the lands of 
Eu-rope rose to fight 
Na-po-le-on, and at 
last thev made him 
give up all he had 
won, and they 
brought back the 
king, Lou-isXVIIL, 
and Na-po-le-on was 
sent to El-ba, a small 
isle in the sea. But 
the next vear he orot 
back to France, 
where the troops 
were glad to see him. 
King Lou-is had to 
fly, and Na-po-le-on 
was soon at the head 
of a laree force. En-o^land and Prus-sia made 
haste to meet him, with Blu-cher and Wel-ling-ton 
to lead their troops. They met him on the field 
of Wa-ter-loo, in Bel-gium, and beat him so that 
he fled. He did not get off though, but fell in 




J^y 






WEL-LING-TON. 




BAT-TLE OF WA-TER-LOO. 



George III. 207 

the hands of his foes, and at last was sent to a 
lone isle in the At-lan-tic by the name of St. 
Hel-e-na. There he was kept for five years, when 
death set him free. 

Eu-rope was at peace once more, but the blind 
old kino: knew nauo^ht of it. More than one chanQ^e 
took place in the reign of George III. En-gland 
had orrown in wealth. Mails were sent in more 
swift ways on smooth, fine roads, and news was 
spread through the land each day. Books for the 
young first came out in this reign. Wal-ter Scott 
wrote his great tales, and there were three men who 
wrote verse then, which we read to this day. Their 
names are Words-worth, South-ey, and Cole-ridge. 
Men left off wigs and wore their own hair short and 
m curls. They wore blue coats and buff vests, and 
had tight stocks on their necks, and great shirt-frills 
in their breasts. The dames had their gowns made 
short in the waist, and the skirts were plain and 
scant, but the sleeves were of a great size. They 
wore their hair in short curls low on the brows, and 
had hats with high crowns and large fronts. The 
death of George III. came in 1820. 



208 



History of England. 



CHAPTER XXII. 



GEORGE IV. 



George IV. was quite an old man when he came 
to the throne. He had been made to take Prin- 
cess Car-o-Hne of Bruns-wick for his wife, and he 




QUEEN CAR-O-LINE AT WEST-MIN-STER. 



could not bear her, so they did not live in the same 
house. They had had one child, Char-lotte, a good, 
bright girl, and all the hope of the land was set on 
her. She was wed to Prince Le-o-pold of Sax-on-y, 



c 



George IV. 209 

but death took her in the bloom of her youth, to the 
o^reat o^rief of the whole land. Georo^e IV. would 
not have his wife with him when he took the crown. 
He said she was not fit to be queen, and he sought 
to get rid of her. There were those who took up 
her cause, and so there was strife at once. When 
the king went to have the crown put on his head, 
in the midst of all the pomp the queen drove up to 
take her place at his side, but she was kept back and 
she had to go to her home. This made her fret 
and pine till death put an end to her woes. Both 
the king and queen were no doubt to blame, but 
George had such a hate for his wife that when 
Na-po-le-on was dead and some one told him that 
his worst foe was gone, he said at once: ''When 
did she die ?" 

The health of George IV. was not good, and 
he spent most of his time in a house he had 
built, or in drives in the park at Windsor. He 
had to let a bill pass for the Ro-man Cath-o-lics to 
sit in Par-lia-ment, and he did not like that, but this 
was an age of change. Steam had been brought in 
and made to move ships, and to lend its aid to those 
who wove cloth and to crush ore. And as we must 
have fire for steam, there were great coal works set up 
in the north of En-gland, and men went in crowds 
to dig up the coal, so great towns grew up there. 



2IO 



History of England. 



George IV. had no child to take the throne, so it 
came to the next in blood, Wil-liam, Duke of Clar- 
ence, the third 
son of George 
III. He was a 
dull man, but 
good and kind, 
and Queen Ad- 
elaide won the 
love of all. They 
had lost their two 
babes long since, 
and all knew that 
the next heir 
must be the Prin- 
cess Vic-to-ri-a, 
the child of Ed- 
ward, Duke of 
Kent. 

King Wil-liam 
had shown that 
he was a friend 
of the Whigs, 
and at this time 
they sought to make a great change, to go as they 
said to the root of things, and get more rights for 
the folks. The Duke of Wel-ling-ton, who was as 




WIL-LIAM THE FOURTH. 



Georo;e IV. 2 1 1 



i3 



great in peace as he was in war, strove to have time 
to weigh things well, but these men would not wait. 
The poor thought that if the king gave them the 
new right they would grow rich all at once ; so they 
were in a rage that all was not done at once, and 
went through the land in bands to burn hay ricks 
and stacks of corn. They thought no more of Wel- 
ling-ton's great deeds, but set out to pelt him with 
stones as he rode by. But his calm, cool ways held 
them in check, and no one cast a stone. You see 
he was at the head of things and they thought he 
would not let the king help them. So he left his 
place and the Whigs put one of their men in, and 
an Act of Par-lia-ment, known as the Re-form Bill, 
was made to set things to rights. By this all men 
who could rent a house in a town had a vote as to 
who should go to Par-lia-ment. The best thing 
done in this reign was that the slaves were set free 
in the West In-dies. In those days ships would 
go to Af-ri-ca and the crews would steal or buy 
black men and their wives and young ones, and 
bring them to the West In-dies to work for them. 
An En-glish-man, Wil-liam Wil-ber-force, had 
sought for half his life to break up the slave trade, 
and in 1834 '^ ^'^^ slaves in these Isles were set 
free. 

Kin(^ Wil-liam's reio^n was but short, and there 




WEL-LING-TON AND THE MOB. 



George IV. 



213 



were no wars In it. But rail-ways were made and 
steam drew the cars on them for the first time, 
from Liv-er-pool to Man-ches-ter, in 1830. It did 
so well that more were built, and in time the 
whole land had a net-work of rails laid on it, and 
goods and folks could go with speed from place to 
place. In this reign men went forth from En-gland 
to make homes in Aus-tra-lia and Can-a-da. At 
Wil-liam's death the En-glish lost the Ger-man state 
of Han-o-ver, which must be held in the male line, 
so it could not go to Vic-to-ri-a. 




2 1 4 History of England. 



CHAPTER XXIII. 

VIC-TO-RI-A. 

The Prin-cess Vic-to-ri-a was but a young girl 
when the crown came to her, and in three years 
she was wed to the Prince Al-bert of Co-burg, a 
man who did his best to help her in her reign. 
He had a fine mind and a clear head, and all felt 
that he was one whom men could trust. Though 
he kept in the back ground, he was strong. He 
took much pains to help all arts and trades, and to 
do this "he had what is known as a World's Fair. 
To this could be sent things from all lands, and 
the En-glish could see these works and get good 
hints from them. The house in which this fair 
was held on the ist of May, 185 1, was built of 
elass, and was a fine sigiht. It was known as the 
Crys-tal Pal-ace. There have been great fairs since, 
but none so fine as that. 

A year from that time a war broke out in Eu- 
rope. The Turks had grown weak, and found it 
ha^rd to keep peace in their land. Rus-sia saw 
this, and thought it a good time to reach out a 
strong hand and take Tur-key. But France and 



Victoria. 215 

En-gland thought Rus-sia would be too strong if 
she had all the land down to the Med-it-er-ra-ne- 
an Sea, so they set out to help the Turks. They 
thought the best way to do this was to fight the 
Rus-sians on their own soil at the Cri-me-a. So 
in 1854 ^he En-ghsh and French went to the 
Cri-me-a and won at once in what is known as the 
fight of the Al-ma. They went on to lay siege 
to the town of Se-bas-to-pol. It was a long siege, 
and the troops had a hard time from the cold 
and damp, so that hosts of them grew ill. A kind 
En-glish dame went out to nurse the sick, and 
she and those with her did much good. Her 
name was Flor-ence Nicfht-in-rale. The sieo^e, of 
Se-bas-to-pol did not end for twelve months, for 
the Rus-sians made a brave stand to keep it. 
There were two great fights. In one of these the 
troops were sent in the face of the Rus-sian fire, 
and rode, as one has sung of them in verse, 

" In-to the jaws of death," 

though they saw the shot mow down all like a scythe. 
Then it was found out at last that they should not 
have been sent there at all. That is known as the 
charge of Bal-ak-la-va. The Rus-sians crept out 
late one night to take the En-glish by storm, and 
there was a fierce fio-ht on the heio^hts of In-ker- 
man. But at last the En-glish won. Lord Rag- 




QUEEN VIC-TO-RI-A. 



Victoria. 2 1 7 

Ian, who led the En-ghsh, did not live to see the 
town of Se-bas-to-pol won, nor did the Em-per-or 
of Rus-sia see the end of the war. His son made 
peace, and said Se-bas-to-pol should not be kept as 
a fort, that he would leave Tur-key free, and keep 
no fleet in the Black Sea. 

At this time the strange force that Ben-ja-min 
Frank-lin had drawn down with his kite had been 
made to fly on wires and take news to all parts of 
the land with the speed of a flash of light. You 
see these wires now on poles in all parts. Peace 
came then to En-gland, but it did not last long. The 
En-glish who had gone to live in In-dia had grown 
rich and got more and more land, and some of them 
held high rank there. The En-glish troops there 
had some of the sons of the land in their ranks 
who had learnt to fight in En-glish style. These 
men were known as Se-poys. They were not Chris- 
tians, but held a strange faith, which taught them 
all sorts of queer things. Part of their creed made 
them think it a sin to kill a cow or touch the beef. 

There came out at this time a new sort of charge 
for the guns, and the Se-poys chose to think there 
was cow's grease in it, and that it was a trick of the 
En-glish to make them break the rules of their 
faith and turn Chris-tians. They laid a deep plot 
and all at once in all parts of In-dia they rose and 



2 1 8 Histo7'y of England. 

shot the En-ghsh, and then went and slew their 
wives and babes. Some few were hid by friends 
and got off. Then the Se-poys went to Del-hi and 
put to death all the En-glish left there, and set up 
as kine an old man who had once worn their 
crown. 

The En-glish troops in Ben-gal made haste to 
help their friends who were shut in town in a state 
of siege. At Cawn-pore there was a strong place 
that had a mud wall round it, and here some of the 
En-glish were kept shut up with no food. If one 
went out for a drink he was shot at once. You may 
guess what they had to bear. There w^as an In- 
di-an Prince by the name of Na-na Sa-hib whom 
they had thought their friend. But he was their 
worst foe. When they could bear their pangs no 
more, they gave up to Na-na and he slew them all. 
The men were shot the first day. Then he kept 
the wives and the boys and girls for one night, but 
when he heard the En-glish troops were near, in his 
rage he sent in men to kill them all, and they were 
thrown in a mass down a deep well. The En-glish 
came the next day — too late ! They could not get 
hold of Na-na, but the rest of the Se-poys had to 
pay for this great crime. The En-glish in the city 
of Luck-now were in a state of siege, but the troops 
went first to Del-hi, blew up the gates of the town 



Victoria. 



219 



and took the old king. More troops were sent out 
from En-gland to help them and they took up their 
march to Luck-now. There week by week the 
poor men with their wives and babes had held out, 
while the shot fell on all sides and the food was so 
poor and scant that some fell sick and the babes 
could not get well. Sir Co-lin Camp-bell, who 
had been sent out from En-gland, came to save them 
at last. The Se-poys were put down in all parts of 
the land and there was peace once more. In i860 
the queen and all En-gland had a sad loss in the 
death of the good Prince Al-bert. All the land 
were his friends and his death was felt as a great 
blow by all. He had done much for the growth of 
the land, and the En-glish felt his worth when he 
was gone. The Prin-cess Roy-al was wed to the 
Prince of Prus-sia. 

The Prince of Wales took for his wife the fair 
young Prin-cess A-lex-an-dra, the child of the king 
of Den-mark. The prince met her on board ship 
in the mouth of the Thames, and there was great 
joy through the land, and fires were lit on each hill 
and towns were a-blaze with light. The Prin-cess 
won all hearts at once and has kept her place in the 
love of the En-glish from that day. 

There is one part of Af-ri-ca south of E-gypt 
known as A-bys-sin-i-a. The tribes who live there 



2 20 History of England. 

had of late a king by the name of The-o-dore, who 
was not so dull as the rest, but sought to have 
Christ-ian men come and teach hhn and his folks. 
They came, but ere long the king for some cause 
threw them all in jail, and would not let them out, 
till at last Gen-er-al Na-pier took some troops and 
went to the place. The A-bys-sin-i-ans fled when 
the charge was made, and they found The-o-dore 
dead by one of the gates. En-gland did not keep 
A-bys-sin-i-a, but left it to its own kings who had 
been put off the throne by The-o-dore. The son of 
The-o-dore, a boy of five, was brought to Lon-don, 
but he could not bear the cold, so he was sent to a 
school in In-dia. He did not live to grow up. 

In 1878-79 there was some fear of a war with 
Rus-sia, as the Rus-sians did not keep the terms of 
their peace. A fleet was sent out to the Turk-ish 
seas, and then Rus-sia gave up and said they would 
do as was thought best by the lands of Eu-rope. 
The Turks said if En-gland would help them keep 
their rights they would let En-glish-men see that 
the Christ-ians in their land did not meet with 
wrong. They gave En-gland the isle of Cy-prus 
for funds lent to them. 

On the south-east coast of Af-ri-ca is a land 
known as Na-tal. There are En-glish there. The 
folks have the name of Kaf-firs. They are black, 



Victoria. 221 

but have much sense and are brave. The great 
tribe is the Zu-lus. They have had at times such 
fierce and hard kings that some left their homes and 
went to hve on land held by the En-glish. At the 
west there is a great tract of land known as the 
Trans-vaal. The folks there are for the most part 
Dutch, and are known as Boers, which is the Dutch 
word for one who tills the ground. The Boers and 
the Kaf-firs had had fights, and crimes had been done 
on each side. The En-glish had spread so far that 
they thought they had the strength to take the 
Trans-vaal in En-glish rule. Some of the Boers 
and the folks thought this was not just, and the Zu- 
lu king, Cet-a-way-o, who had been a friend to En- 
gland, grew to be its foe, and put all in trim for a 
fight. Troops were sent by the En-glish, but they 
did not know how fierce and wild these tribes were. 
The Zu-lus found some way to lure a great part of 
the force out of the camp, and then slew them. But 
a few were left to tell the tale. 

Cet-a-way-o lost such hosts of his men that he 
did not try to march in-to Na-tal. At last the 
En-glish won all in their way, and took Cet-a-way-o 
and sent him to Cape Town. They broke his land 
up in parts and gave them out to chiefs. The Kaf- 
firs who were in En-glish rule kept faith with En- 
gland, and did not join their own friends. 



2 22 History of Ejigland. 

A sad thing came to pass In this war. The son 
of the Em-per-or Na-po-Ie-on the Third, who had 
been brought up in the En-ghsh school at Wool- 
wich, had a wish to share in the fight. He was a 
brave young man and rash, so he was put in charge 
of those more old and wise, and they were to see 
that he did not risk his life. They were set on by 
some Zu-lus who had been hid in the grass. The 
rest made out to ride off, but the prince was slain 
by the Zu-lus. His wounds made clear the fact 
that he had fought in a brave way till he fell. At 
this same time there was a war in a land north of 
In-dia known as Af-ghan-is-tan. Its prince, who 
has the name of A-meer, had some grudge at the 
En-glish, and would not have one sent to his court, 
but peace was made in 1879. The queen now has 
the name of Em-press of In-dia, and she has ten 
times the folks there that she has in En-Hand and 
Wales. Some of the Dutch Boers had a wish that 
their land should be part of En-gland, but as soon 
as En-glish rule was felt they rose to fight for their 
rights. Some En-glish troops were set on at the 
steep hill of May-a-da, and the Boers, who are 
good shots, slew most of them. In the mean time 
En-gland made up its mind to leave the Boers to 
rule their own land. 

In time the En-glish put Cet-a-way-o on his 



Victoria. 223 

throne once more. In 1882 there was in E-gypt 
some who did not choose that En-gland and France 
should have so much to say in their land, and they 
rose and slew the En-glish in A-lex-an-dri-a. Ar- 
a-bi Pa-shaw led these men, and the Khe-dive, who 
was the real head of the land, had to call on En- 
gland to help him. They sent troops and took 
A-lex-an-dri-a, and the mob was put to rout at Tel- 
el-Kebir and A-ra-bi Pa-shaw fell in the hands of 
the En-glish. The court that was set to try him said 
he should be put to death, but the En-glish made 
up their minds to spare his life, and he w^as sent to 
live in Cey-lon. 

In this year, 1884, an Ar-ab by the name of El 
Mah-di seeks, like a new Ma-hom-et, to drive out 
all the English in his way. He is known as the 
False Proph-et. Gen-er-al Gor-clon has been sent 
to take charge of the En-glish troops. He said : *' I 
come not to fight but to help you, and God is with 
me." The Sheiks sent back word: 'Tf you are 
with God, then you are with us, for God is with us." 
Gen-er-al Gor-don has found that kind words will 
not do, and that there must be more war. This 
brings us down to these times. Others will tell 
what shall be, in. the days to come, of fame or glory 
for En-gland. 

• THE END. 



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